In conclusion, our findings suggest that targeting ErbB-3 receptors could represent an effective therapeutic approach in BRAF-V600E mutant colon cancer.
Female patients and older group harbored a higher KRAS mutation (P = 0.018 and P = 0.031, respectively); BRAF (V600E) mutation showed a higher frequency in colon cancer and poor differentiation tumors (P = 0.020 and P = 0.030, respectively); proximal tumors appeared a higher PIK3CA mutation (P<0.001) and distant metastatic tumors shared a higher NRAS mutation (P = 0.010).
The clinical studies in the manuscript by Al-Marrawi et al. describe the rational combination of signaling inhibitors in a colon cancer patient whose tumor cells express a mutant active B-RAF V600E protein that signals into the MEK1/2-ERK1/2 pathway downstream of K-RAS; this is a particularly aggressive form of colon cancer for which few rational therapeutic interventions have been available until recent times.
Sorafenib and cetuximab therapy led to a mixed radiographic response with some areas showing dramatic improvement and other areas showing stable disease over a 7-month period which is a notably long period of progression-free survival for V600E BRAF mutated colon cancer.