Dr. Kazmi on Emerging Biomarkers in CRC

Syed Kazmi, MD, an oncologist at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, discusses emerging biomarkers that could help guide treatment decisions in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).

Some of the known biomarkers in CRC include RAS and PI3K mutations, Kazmi says. Although inhibitors are used to target PI3K mutations in other tumor types, they are not available in CRC yet, Kazmi notes. Moreover, no RAS-targeted therapies are available for patients with CRC, either.

RAS and PI3K are the main biomarker targets for CRC, but others are also under exploration. Ongoing research efforts may be able to tease out more molecular subsets in these patients, Kazmi explains. More subsets would allow for more targeted therapies in each group; however, those data are still pending, Kazmi concludes.