BACKGROUND TAS-102 improves overall survival (OS) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) refractory to standard treatments. However, predictive biomarkers of efficacy are currently lacking. PATIENTS AND METHODS We treated a cohort of 43 chemorefractory mCRC patients treated with TAS-102, in a single institution expanded access, compassionate use programme. We stratified patients...

This is the case of an 84-year-old woman diagnosed with Stage IVb colon adenocarcinoma (CRC) metastatic to the liver, retroperitoneum, anastomotic site, and distal rectal sigmoid colon. She experienced intolerable side effects to systemic chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil and bevacizumab, as well as disease progression. Next generation sequencing of her tumor was ordered, and further discussion ...

Patients with GISTs most commonly have KIT and PDGFRA mutations. The therapeutic agents are determined based on these sites of mutation. Imatinib and sunitinib are proven to be effective against GIST, and these agents are now the standard treatment options for GISTs. Moreover, several novel molecular-targeted agents are under development, particularly regorafenib and nilotinib which have phase ...

“Stivarga is the latest colorectal cancer treatment to demonstrate an ability to extend patients’ lives, and is the second drug approved for patients with colorectal cancer in the past 2 months,” said Richard Pazdur, MD, director of the office of hematology and oncology products in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a press release. In August, the FDA approved aflibercept (Zaltra...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second-most common cause of cancer-related death in the world. In spite of HCC surveillance with repeated imaging, about 50% of patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage and are not amenable to curative treatment options. Sorafenib, a multikinase inhibitor, remains the standard of care for advanced HCC. Over the last 5 years, several other medications hav...

Metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is a highly heterogeneous disease. Its treatment outcome has been significantly improved over the last decade with the incorporation of biological targeted therapies, including anti-EGFR antibodies, cetuximab and panitumumab, and VEGF inhibitors, bevacizumab, ramucirumab, and aflibercept. The identification of predictive biomarkers has further improved the su...

NEW DRUGS Stivarga for Advanced Colon Cancer Regorafenib (Stivarga, Bayer) has been approved for patients with treatmentrefractory metastatic colorectal cancer. The drug is a multikinase inhibitor. The FDA’s approval was based primarily on the 760-patient CORRECT trial. Progression-free survival was only slightly improved (a median of 2 months with the study drug versus 1.7 months with placebo)...

BACKGROUND Metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is commonly treated with 5-fluorouracil, folinic acid, and oxaliplatin or irinotecan. The multitargeted kinase inhibitor, regorafenib, was combined with chemotherapy as first- or second-line treatment of mCRC to assess safety and pharmacokinetics (primary objectives) and tumor response (secondary objective). PATIENTS AND METHODS Forty-five patien...

BACKGROUND Regorafenib induces distinct radiological changes that represent its anti-angiogenic effect. However, clinical implication of the changes is unclear. METHODS Tumor attenuation as measured by Hounsfield units (HU) in contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and cavitary changes of lung metastases were analyzed in association with treatment outcome of metastatic colorectal cancer p...

Background and Objective It is unclear whether early morphological change (EMC) is a predictive marker for regorafenib in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Therefore, the present study investigated whether EMC can predict the outcome of mCRC patients receiving regorafenib. Results This study evaluated 68 patients. Among 52 patients with lung metastasis, 16 (31%) had cavity formation (CF). ...