{"entity":{"id":"paper-galon-immune-contexture-colorectal-science-2006","kind":"paper","name":"Galon 2006: the type, density and location of immune cells in colorectal tumours predict outcome","aka":[],"tldr":"Counting the T cells inside a bowel cancer and at its edge predicted whether the cancer would return better than the traditional stage did, the discovery behind the Immunoscore test.","summary":"Galon and colleagues analysed immune cells in tumours from 415 patients with colorectal cancer using gene expression and tissue microarrays. A strong presence of adaptive immune cells, in particular CD3, CD8, CD45RO memory and granzyme B-positive cytotoxic T cells, in both the tumour centre and the invasive margin was associated with a much lower rate of early metastasis and longer survival, independently of and more strongly than the TNM stage. The finding led to the standardised Immunoscore, validated internationally in 2018.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Full text (DOI)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1129139"}],"tags":[],"related":["colorectal-roadmap","idea-crc-mss-immunotherapy-by-biomarker-not-by-line"],"cancers":["colorectal"],"sections":[],"technologies":["histopathology-ihc"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["tumor-microenvironment","cancer-immunity-cycle"],"terms":["tils","immune-system","prognosis","ihc"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"Science","year":2006,"doi":"10.1126/science.1129139","authors":"Galon J, Costes A, Sanchez-Cabo F, et al.","paperType":"translational","findings":["Immune profiling of colorectal tumours from 415 patients by gene expression and tissue microarrays.","Tumours without signs of early metastatic invasion had higher densities of adaptive immune cells, especially memory and cytotoxic T cells.","High densities of CD3, CD8 and CD45RO cells in both the tumour centre and invasive margin predicted longer disease-free and overall survival, independently of TNM stage."],"whatItMeans":"This paper showed that the immune response to a cancer is part of its prognosis, not background noise, and it introduced the idea of the immune contexture that underlies both the Immunoscore and the biomarker work in immunotherapy.","caveats":["A single-centre cohort at the time; the Immunoscore was validated in a later international study.","Immunoscore is not yet part of routine staging in most countries."],"changedPractice":false},"route":"/key-papers/paper-galon-immune-contexture-colorectal-science-2006/","neighbours":{"roadmap":[{"id":"colorectal-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"Colorectal cancer roadmap: from the adenoma-carcinoma sequence and the first screening trials to total mesorectal excision, oxaliplatin, RAS testing, immunotherapy for mismatch repair-deficient disease, ctDNA-guided treatment and organ preservation","route":"/roadmaps/colorectal-roadmap/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-crc-mss-immunotherapy-by-biomarker-not-by-line","kind":"idea","name":"Select microsatellite stable patients for immunotherapy by a measured immune biomarker, not by how many treatments they have already failed","route":"/ideas/idea-crc-mss-immunotherapy-by-biomarker-not-by-line/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"colorectal","kind":"cancer","name":"Colorectal cancer","route":"/cancers/colorectal/"}],"technology":[{"id":"histopathology-ihc","kind":"technology","name":"Histopathology & immunohistochemistry","route":"/technologies/histopathology-ihc/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"cancer-immunity-cycle","kind":"pathway","name":"The cancer-immunity cycle","route":"/pathways/cancer-immunity-cycle/"},{"id":"tumor-microenvironment","kind":"pathway","name":"Tumour microenvironment (TME)","route":"/pathways/tumor-microenvironment/"}],"term":[{"id":"immune-system","kind":"term","name":"Immune system","route":"/terms/immune-system/"},{"id":"ihc","kind":"term","name":"Immunohistochemistry (IHC)","route":"/terms/ihc/"},{"id":"prognosis","kind":"term","name":"Prognosis","route":"/terms/prognosis/"},{"id":"tils","kind":"term","name":"Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs)","route":"/terms/tils/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-thorsson-immune-landscape-of-cancer-immunity-2018","kind":"paper","name":"Thorsson 2018: the immune landscape of cancer across 10,000 tumours","route":"/key-papers/paper-thorsson-immune-landscape-of-cancer-immunity-2018/"}]}}