Advancements in Colorectal Cancer have Improved Survival - Pulse ...

Within the last 20 years we have seen significant improvements in the treatment of colorectal cancer, yet this?indication?still represents one of the most prevalent and deadly tumor types with 142,570 new cases and 51,370 deaths each year.? This year at the 2011 ASCO meeting in Chicago, a great historical treatment perspective on the advancements in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer was shared, from the first drug (5-FU) to be approved in 1959, to newer targeted therapies that specifically attack tumor blood vessels that feed cancer cells oxygen and nutrients.? Given advancements in medicine and molecular biology, physicians now have more therapeutic options and genetic tools that can help personalize treatment and lead to better patient outcomes.

Without question, our understanding of the molecular basis of colorectal cancer is improving treatment outcomes and survival rates.? Since the 1960s, colon cancer incidence has decreased by 40% and mortality by 25%.? The median survival for metastatic colorectal cancer once stood at 6 months prior to the introduction of 5-FU into the market and now patients can live longer than 20 months as a result of newer approved therapies.? Newer combination therapies and genetic tests will likely improve survival even more as we learn what underlying genetic changes contribute to the development and progression of this terrible disease.

Genetic and physiological tests that are currently used in colon cancer include the following:

• Pharmacodynamic biomarkers ? tests that can help determine whether a drug is working (example: some drugs cause skin rashes on patients and these rashes can help determine whether the drug is active and not being quickly metabolize by the body). ?These tests help determine whether a drug dose must be lowered or elevated

• Predictive biomarkers ? tests that predict the outcome of certain therapies (example: patients harboring normal copies of a gene called KRAS are more likely to benefit from therapies such as Erbitux or Vectibix). ?Tests help determine which patients are likely to benefit from a given therapy

• Prognostic biomarkers ? tests associated with outcome independent of therapy (example: tests help determine whether a given patient is at greater risk from dying from the disease compared to those patients testing negative for such a test)

Source: http://blogs.pulseofthepatient.com/cancer-events/advancements-in-colorectal-cancer-have-improved-survival/

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