BRAF Mutation and Treatment Resistance in Colorectal Cancer Patients

With the advent of new chemotherapeutic and targeted agents, survival in metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) patients has improved steadily toward a median of 2 years during the past decade. Monoclonal antibodies that block the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) have single-agent activity in CRC and, when combined with first-line chemotherapy, help to overcome irinotecan (Campostar) resistance and to improve responses and progression-free survival (PFS). Recent findings confirmed that mutations leading to the activation of the KRAS oncogene identify CRC patients who are resistant to cetuximab (Erbitux; JW Oncol Hematol Feb 19 2008). Now, investigators evaluated how mutations of KRAS and BRAF (which expresses a serine-threonine kinase th…