Pharmacogenomics of CRC treatments: putting bricks on the path to personalized medicine

• Published in: BMC genomics Vol. 15; no. S2; p. O5
• Main Authors: Fernández-Rozadilla, Ceres, Balboa, Emilia, Rasool, Mahmood, Barros, Francisco, Castells, Antoni, Castellvi-Bel, Sergi, Brea-Fernández, Alejandro, Ruiz-Ponte, Clara, Carracedo, Angel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: BioMed Central Ltd 02.04.2014; BioMed Central
• Subjects: Oral Presentation
• ISSN: 1471-2164; 1471-2164
• DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-15-S2-O5

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequent neoplasms and an important cause of morbidity in the developed world and it is increasingly frequent in developing countries. There has been increasing evidence from clinical trials that chemotherapy treatment greatly improves the chances of healing and survival in CRC patients with stages III or higher. 5-FU has been the cornerstone for first-line CRC systematic chemotherapy for many years and its combination with oxaliplatin (that is, FOLFOX) has become the most common regimen for CRC patients. However, the toxicities associated with the administration of these drugs have sometimes overshadowed the benefits they deliver. Patients treated with 5-FU commonly exhibit gastrointestinal and haematopoietic toxicities, whereas FOLFOX- treated patients are at risk of developing sensory neuropathy, which may endure even long after cessation of chemotherapy. All these side effects are thought to be mainly due to the narrow therapeutic indexes of most anticancer drugs.