We have just published our study on colon cancer clinical outcomes in women versus men. The facts that premenopausal women are protected against developing colon cancer and that postmenopausal women who take hormonal replacement therapy have reduced risk for colon cancer suggest that female hormones are protective. This can be very confusing since estrogen replacement therapy is not recommended for breast cancer patients. Read the rest of this entry »

You may have heard the exciting data on PARP inhibitors for patients with mutations in the BRCA genes reported at ASCO 2009. Patients who carry these mutations are deficient in DNA repair which makes them very sensitive to PARP inhibitors which play a significant role in DNA repair.

Why does that matter for colon cancer? Well, the genetic predisposition HNPCC is caused by another DNA repair deficiency linked to mutations in MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, PMS1 and PMS2. The landmark sign for mismatch repair deficiency is microsatellite instability also called MSI. Read the rest of this entry »

A recent study suggested that patients with colon cancer lived longer when taking aspirin.

Aspirin is a very interesting drug which has showed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and colon cancer risk and is a great pain reliever. The mechanism of action is the inhibition of an enzyme called COX-2. Read the rest of this entry »

At ASCO a number of studies showed the efficacy data of combining 5-FU or Xeloda with oxaliplatin in combination with radiation therapy in patients with rectal cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

In the plenary session at ASCO this year there was a presentation of a large NASBP trial which tested whether the addition of Avastin® (bevacizumab) to 6 months of FOLFOX would decrease tumor recurrence.

The data suggested that there was no benefit with the addition of Avastin, which was given not only for 6 months along with chemotherapy but 6 months in addition to FOLFOX for a total of 12 months. Read the rest of this entry »