Dr. Pant on the Future of mCRC Treatment

Shubham Pant, MD, associate medical director of the Clinical & Translational Research Center, associate professor, Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses ongoing efforts in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) and his hope for the future treatment landscape.

Shubham Pant, MD, associate medical director of the Clinical & Translational Research Center, associate professor, Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses ongoing efforts in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) and his hope for the future treatment landscape.

The future looks very promising. Pant notes that years ago, lung cancer was divided into non—small cell lung cancer, adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, etc. Now, diagnoses are becoming more specific to EGFR, ALK, ROS1, and other abnormalities.

The hope is to be able to stratify CRCs the same way. Right now, there are microsatellite instability-high, and BRAF-mutated cancers. Additionally, patients with KRAS mutations need new therapies. KRAS inhibitors are in development. Combination approaches with translocations downstream of KRAS, such as RAS, RAF, MEK, ERK may be worth investigating.