Revolutionizing Colorectal Cancer Care: Brea...

Revolutionizing Colorectal Cancer Care: Breakthroughs in Targeted Therapies and Cutting-Edge Screening Strategies

Author Name : Sushavan Roy, Uday Raj Sharma, Manjunatha Panduranga Mudgal, Gurubasavaraja Swamy Purawargaar Matada, Pronoy Kanti Das, Surendra Vada, Suresh Janadri, T Haribabu, Nageena Taj, Gayathri SV

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56025/IJARESM.2024.1209241007

ABSTRACT Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cause of cancer-related death and the third most common type of cancer. For patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), surgery or surgery combined with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy was considered the primary treatment approach until the early 2000s, when targeted medications such as bevacizumab and cetuximab were not developed. The overall survival rate of patients has considerably increased with the use of targeted medications in clinical practice. To date, several targeted medication types have emerged, offering new opportunities and prospects for the treatment of mCRC. One of the main challenges in treating colorectal cancer (CRC) is multiple drug resistance (MDR). The considerable reasons for drug resistance include the tumour microenvironment plus genomic instability, tumour-derived exosomes (TDEs), cancer stem cells (CSCs), circulating tumour cells (CTCs), cell-free DNA (cfDNA), and cellular signalling pathways. With the assistance of multiple carriers, targeted therapies have been developed to address the shortcomings of nontargeted therapies, which include toxicity, a variety of side effects, and undesired efficacy. This review aims to summarize all the necessary, updated information on colon cancer-related targeted therapeutics and screening. Various personalized therapeutics such as RAS mutation therapy, BRAF mutation targeted therapy, microsatellite instability targeted therapy, NTRK gene fusion targeted therapy, and phytochemical-based targeted therapy are discussed in this review.