Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

KRAS in Colorectal Cancer Therapy

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Cancer

  • 136 Accesses

Definition

Metastatic colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths. Although the number of patients surviving 5 years with advanced-stage mCRC remains small, recent advances in personalized cancer medicine may be able to separate out those that respond to novel cytotoxic and biological agents versus those that do not respond to these agents.

Curren treatments for patients with colorectal cancer include several targeted monoclonal antibodies, as well as conventional chemotherapeutic agents. Bevacizumab (Avastin®), cetuximab (Erbitux®), and panitumumab (Vectibix™), along with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs, are some of the most commonly used agents to treat patients with mCRC.

Both cetuximab and panitumumab interact with the epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR). These drugs fall into a category of agents called anti-EGFR therapies. Recent data now suggest a differential response to anti-EGFR antibody therapy based on...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

See Also

  • (2012) Biomarkers. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, pp 408–409. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_6601

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Codon. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 891. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_1248

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) MAPK. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 2167. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3532

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Mutation. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 2412. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3911

    Google Scholar 

  • (2012) Panitumumab. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of cancer, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, p 2779. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_4362

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

Authors
  1. Manfred Schwab
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manfred Schwab .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Tumorgenetik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this entry

Cite this entry

Schwab, M. (2015). KRAS in Colorectal Cancer Therapy. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_7031-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_7031-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation