Predictive-Factor Testing May Benefit Colorectal Cancer Patients

Predictive-factor testing of colorectal tumors may soon help physicians choose the most appropriate therapy for their patients, according to researchers at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund at the University of Leeds in England.

Many patients with colorectal cancer are treated with chemotherapy for resistant tumors and experience side effects, but often the treatment has no benefit, according to the researchers.

For example, approximately 90 percent of patients who receive chemotherapy following surgery for Dukes' C carcinoma of the colon do not really derive any benefit from this follow-on treatment, the researchers said.

Predictive-factor testing could allow selection of treatment regimens for individual patients to improve survival and minimize toxicity from unnecessary treatment.

Gene expression can be tested at the protein or RNA level and can be matched with response or resistance to specific therapies.

"Predictive factor testing of tumor biopsy samples may allow us to select chemotherapy or immunotherapy treatments with a high likelihood of benefit for the individual patient," concluded the researchers.

Other Sources: Lancet Oncology