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Personalized treatment for colorectal cancer: novel developments and putative therapeutic strategies

  • Review Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

Background

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer diagnosed worldwide and continues to be a major healthcare concern. Molecular heterogeneity of CRC is believed to be one of the main factors responsible for the considerable variability in treatment response. With the recent development of powerful genomic technologies, novel insights in tumor biology of CRC have now been provided, facilitating the recognition of new molecular subtypes with prognostic and predictive implications.

Purpose

The purpose of this review article is to summarize current knowledge about genomic, epigenomic, and proteomic characteristics of CRC, as well as their implications for biomarker identification and individualized targeted therapy.

Conclusion

Supplementing the findings from several previous studies, the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project recently finalized the systematic characterization of CRC resulting in the first tumor dataset with complete molecular measurements at DNA, RNA, and protein levels. The challenge now is to translate these findings into a robust and reproducible CRC classification system linking molecular features of the tumor to precision medicine.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Sina Müller for assistance in the preparation of the manuscript.

Disclosure

Uwe Martens had a previous role as advisor for Roche, Amgen, Sanofi.

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No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed by the other authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Center Heilbronn-Franken, SLK Kliniken Heilbronn GmbH, Heilbronn, Germany

    Jamil Akkad, Sylvia Bochum & Uwe M. Martens

  2. Department of Hematology and Oncology, SLK Kliniken Heilbronn GmbH, Heilbronn, Germany

    Jamil Akkad & Uwe M. Martens

  3. SLK Kliniken Heilbronn GmbH Academic Hospital, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Am Gesundbrunnen 20-26, 74078, Heilbronn, Germany

    Uwe M. Martens

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Akkad, J., Bochum, S. & Martens, U.M. Personalized treatment for colorectal cancer: novel developments and putative therapeutic strategies. Langenbecks Arch Surg 400, 129–143 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00423-015-1276-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00423-015-1276-0

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