ImmunologyApr 28, 2023

How Body Clocks May Influence Immune Therapy for Colorectal Cancer

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 28, 2026

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide.

Circadian clocks regulate physiological functions in humans and may influence the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) in CRC.
Recent findings suggest that circadian components are significant regulators of the immunogenicity of CRC cells.
Immunotherapy, particularly immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), has improved cancer treatment but requires better patient selection for effectiveness.
There is a lack of comprehensive reviews on the relationship between circadian components, TIME, and CRC cell immunogenicity.
This review proposes a predictive framework integrating circadian factors to enhance ICI treatment outcomes for CRC patients.

Simplified

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant tumours and the third most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with high morbidity and mortality. Circadian clocks are widespread in humans and temporally regulate physiologic functions to maintain homeostasis. Recent studies showed that circadian components were strong regulators of the tumour immune microenvironment (TIME) and the immunogenicity of CRC cells. Therefore, insight into immunotherapy from the perspective of circadian clocks can be promising. Although immunotherapy, especially immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment, has been a milestone in cancer treatment, greater accuracy is still needed for selecting patients who will respond positively to immunotherapy with minimal side effects. In addition, there were few reviews focusing on the role of the circadian components in the TIME and the immunogenicity of CRC cells. Therefore, this review highlights the crosstalk between the TIME in CRC and the immunogenicity of CRC cells based on the circadian clocks. With the goal to achieve the possibility that patients with CRC can benefit most from the ICI treatment, we provide potential evidence and a novel idea for building a predictive framework combined with circadian factors, searching for enhancers of ICIs targeting circadian components and clinically implementing the timing of ICI treatment for patients with CRC.

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How Body Clocks May Influence Immune Therapy for Colorectal Cancer

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