Study: Gene Mutation Found After Colorectal Cancer Surgery Predictor of Recurrence

European researchers report the Kras2 genetic mutation, when found in the blood of patients who have undergone surgery for colorectal cancer, is a strong predictor of disease recurrence.

The researchers, reporting in the journal Gut, said that positive postoperative blood tests for Kras2 in fact appear to be a stronger predictor of colorectal cancer recurrence than the Dukes' stage or treatment with followup chemotherapy.

The researchers from Ireland, Switzerland and the Netherlands said that in a study of 94 patients, the Kras2 mutation was found in the colorectal cancer tumors of 60 of the patients.

The researchers took blood samples from these patients for up to three years after their surgery, and reported that during this period, 16 of them (27 percent) became persistently serum mutant Kras2 positive.

Ten of these 16 (63 percent) developed a recurrence of colorectal cancer, compared to only one in 44 (2 percent) of the patients whose blood serum remained Kras2 mutation negative following their surgery.

Colorectal cancer also recurred in 9 of the 34 patients whose original colorectal cancer did not show the Kras2 mutation.

The researchers concluded: "As a disease marker, postoperative serum mutant DNA detection has great potential in the follow-up management of colorectal and other cancers."

Other Sources: GUT