RESEARCHERS DISCOVER BLOOD MARKER THAT BETTER DEFINES RESPONSE TO DRUG USED FOR METASTATIC COLORECTAL CANCER

摘要

TORONTO, ON - Cancer researchers have identified a marker that shows up in a blood test that determines which patients with colorectal cancer that has spread would benefit from receiving the drug cetuximab. The research, published online in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, solves one of the mysteries of why receiving cetuximab was futile for up to half of incurable colorectal cancer patients not responding to treatment. The research was conducted by principal investigator Dr. Geoffrey Liu, a clinician-scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, in collaboration with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group and the Australasian Gastrointestinal Trials Group.