Doctors Try to Match Cancer Patients to Specific EGFR Treatments

Each and every day, medical research is being conducted to help medical professionals, doctors and patients determine what the most cost-efficient and successful treatment is for the patient’s body. The human body is frequently adapting to new situations, which poses a threat to today’s medicine. Curing a complex disease such as cancer requires a lot of testing on the afflicted individual to determine how their body is reacting to the disease and the treatments. Recently, there have been a lot of findings regarding EGFR (Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors) and the KRAS protein.

If a patient is suffering from a solid tumor, such as colon cancer or soft-cell lung cancer, it is highly probable that an EGFR test will be performed on the patient. EGFR is a key part in forming organ membranes, including the skin. If the patient tests positive for EGFR, they are more likely to have a more aggressive type of cancer and are much more likely to reject standard chemotherapy. This simple biopsy helps guide treatment options, and if the patient has mutations that create overexpression of EGFR, it needs specific treatment. But, before the patient undergoes EGFR treatment options that suppress the overexpression, such as cetuximab, there is another test that has to be performed to gauge the effectiveness.

Recent studies have found that patients who have a certain type of KRAS protein, a main component of cellular growth, are more likely to reject the EGFR treatment. There are two types of KRAS. The first is a wild-type, which is normal, and will allow EGFR treatments to produce results. The second is a mutated form. If this type is present in the patient, it signals the doctor that EGFR treatments may not be effective. This separation could save the patients thousands of dollars in medication that could potentially be a placebo.

Research is still being conducted on both EGFR and KRAS to help determine possible specific cancer treatments. Medical research has found a lot of information recently that helps segment patient treatment, but they still have a long way to go until each patient can be cured.

Clarient is a leader in cancer diagnostics, dedicating ourselves to collaborative relationships with the healthcare community as we translate cancer discovery and information into better patient care. We run molecular tests for Breast Cancer, Lung Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Leukemia and Lymphoma. This article is written by Roberta L. Smigel and provided in courtesy of EGFR, offering diagnostics EGFR Mutation test.