Activation of innate-adaptive immune machinery by poly(I:C) exposes a therapeutic vulnerability to prevent relapse in stroma-rich colon cancer

Objective Stroma-rich tumours represent a poor prognostic subtype in stage II/III colon cancer (CC), with high relapse rates and limited response to standard adjuvant chemotherapy. Design To address the lack of efficacious therapeutic options for patients with stroma-rich CC, we stratified our human tumour cohorts according to stromal content, enabling identification of the biology underpinning relapse and potential therapeutic vulnerabilities specifically within stroma-rich tumours that could be exploited clinically. Following human tumour-based discovery and independent clinical validation, we use a series of in vitro and stroma-rich in vivo models to test and validate the therapeutic potential of elevating the biology associated with reduced relapse in human tumours. Results By performing our analyses specifically within the stroma-rich/high-fibroblast (HiFi) subtype of CC,…