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New Adjuvant Trial Designs in Colon Cancer

  • Adjuvant Therapy for Colon Cancers (AB Benson III and A de Gramont, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Colorectal Cancer Reports

Abstract

The treatment of colon cancer has evolved significantly since the discovery of 5-fluorouracil, and with continued innovation, it will continue to advance for the foreseeable future. In this review, we identify and discuss novel adjuvant trial designs which are currently being employed and that are forthcoming in the treatment of colon cancer. Novel approaches include investigation into whether a shorter duration of adjuvant therapy is as effective as the current standard, whether there is benefit of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of nonmetastatic colon cancer, the role of circulating tumor cells and cell-free DNA on clinical decision making and their impact on long-term outcomes, identification, and individualized treatment of molecular subgroups of colon cancer (i.e., HER2 amplified, microsatellite instable, BRAF V600E mutated, etc.) and the efficacy of targeting cancer stem cells.

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Conflict of Interest

Alexis D. Leal declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Joleen Hubbard has received research funding through grants to Mayo Clinic from Boston Biomedical, Inc., and Senhwa Biosciences, Inc., and has received compensation from Bayer for service as a consultant.

Daniel Sargent has received compensation from Roche for service as a consultant.

Axel Grothey has received research funding through grants to Mayo Clinic from Genentech, Eisai, Sanofi, Eli Lilly, and Boston Biomedical, Inc.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Correspondence to Axel Grothey.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Adjuvant Therapy for Colon Cancers

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Leal, A.D., Hubbard, J., Sargent, D. et al. New Adjuvant Trial Designs in Colon Cancer. Curr Colorectal Cancer Rep 11, 326–334 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11888-015-0297-y

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