Open AccessK-RAS mutation in the screening, prognosis and treatment of cancer
Author(s) -
Barbara L. Parsons,
Fanxue Meng
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
biomarkers in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.652
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1752-0371
pISSN - 1752-0363
DOI - 10.2217/bmm.09.95
Subject(s) - medicine , biomarker , mutation , cancer , personalized medicine , colorectal cancer , oncology , cancer research , bioinformatics , genetics , biology , gene
The potential use of K-RAS mutation as a cancer screening biomarker has been investigated for many years. Numerous associations between K-RAS mutation and various cancers have been established, but these associations have not been translated into effective, cost-efficient cancer screening strategies. This lack of progress may be due to the existence of K-RAS mutation in nontumor tissues and/or using detection, rather than quantitation, of K-RAS mutation as the endpoint for cancer risk categorization. K-RAS mutation appears to be a useful prognostic biomarker for colon cancer. Recent progress toward sensitive and quantitative mutation characterization and the successful use of K-RAS mutation in a personalized medicine approach to targeted biological therapy selection are likely to re-direct and expand the use of K-RAS mutation as a cancer biomarker in the near future.