Colorectal Cancer is among the most dangerous and deadly cancers worldwide. The American Cancer Society projects there will be more than 150,000 new colorectal cancer diagnoses in the U.S. in 2026 with more than 55,000 deaths. Cancer immunotherapy represents a treatment strategy that harnesses a person’s own immune system to combat cancer. Immunotherapies are used to treat a small proportion of colorectal cancers. However, most colorectal cancers are not responsive to current immunotherapies.

Listeria is a bacterium that can cause infection, but its promise as an immunotherapy for several types of cancer including colorectal cancer has reached pre-clinical and clinical trials.