Research from the 10th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer: Focus on KRAS

This month’s issue features highlights from the 10th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer (WCGC), held this past June in Barcelona, Spain. The WCGC is an annual meeting that provides scientific sessions and posters on various malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract. The WCGC also affords researchers the opportunity to interact with colleagues and share the results of their latest studies with the community. The cutting-edge research presented at the WCGC has become one of its greatest draws. In this issue, we summarize several key sessions from the WCGC, including many that addressed KRAS.

Dr. Eric Van Cutsem from University Hospital Gasthuisberg in Leuven, Belgium, presented findings from a subanalysis of the CRYSTAL (Cetuximab Combined with Irinotecan in First-line Therapy for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer) study. Data show that patients with metastatic colorectal cancer are more likely to respond to first-line therapy combining cetuximab (Erbitux) and standard chemotherapy if they have wildtype KRAS tumors.

In another study on KRAS, presented by Dr. Herbert Hurwitz of Duke University Medical Center, a team of researchers from Genentech and Duke University examined the effects of bevacizumab (Avastin) on patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Findings indicate that the drug conveys similar clinical benefits for patients with wild-type KRAS tumors and those with mutant KRAS tumors.

We have seen a flurry of data on KRAS since this year’s ASCO meeting, and I am confident we will see more in the months to come. Our writers at Oncology & Biotech News will continue to cover all the latest oncology meetings, highlighting any presentations pertinent to community-based oncology. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.