title: Therapeutic opportunities from tumour biology in metastatic colon cancer.
abstract: Tumour metastasis is the major cause of morbidity and mortality from colorectal cancer. While improvements in quality of life and patient survival have been made over the past 10 years, the majority of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer will die from their disease. As knowledge of the biology of colon cancer and its invasion/metastasis programme evolve, this presents new therapeutic opportunities for pharmacological and genetic intervention. This review discusses the current approaches to metastatic colorectal cancer therapy, details genomic and biological variance between primary and metastatic tumours, and highlights approaches for harnessing these differences to improve therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, AB25 2ZD, Aberdeen, UK. hmcleod@imgate.wustl.edu
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: McLeod
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: McKay
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Collie-Duguid
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cassidy
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents