The impact of genetics in the treatment of colorectal tumours

During the past decade, significant progress has been made in the treatment of CRC patients. The advent of targeted therapies, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors (cetuximab, panitumumab) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors (bevacizumab), resulted in an improved clinical outcome. The cost of those therapies is very high. Thus, one of the keys is to identify new prognostic and predictive factors, as well in the adjuvant treatment as in the treatment of the metastatic disease. The knowledge of those factors will lead to more and more individualized treatment, in function of the molecular markers of the patient or his tumour. Which therapy for which patient is really a challenging question for the future. The patients will receive more and more individually tailored therapy, taking into account their own characteristics. Today, a good example in metastastic CRC is the use of the K-ras mutation status as a predictive factor of the response to EGFR inhibitors. The prediction of the response will allow to define new strategies. The use of the genetics in the approach of the therapy of CRC has started.

Jaar van publicatie:2010