Decreasing relapse in colorectal cancer patients treated with cetuximab by using the activating KRAS detection chip.

The KRAS oncogene was among the first genetic alterations in colorectal cancer (CRC) to be discovered. Moreover, KRAS somatic mutations might be used for predicting the efficiency of anti-epidermal growth factor receptor therapeutic drugs. Because the KRAS mutations are similar in the primary CRC and/or the CRC metastasis, KRAS mutation testing can be performed on both specimen types. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical advantage of using a KRAS pathway-associated molecule analysis chip to analyze CRC patients treated with cetuximab. Our laboratory developed a KRAS pathway-associated molecule analysis chip and a weighted enzymatic chip array (WEnCA) technique, activating KRAS detection chip, which can detect KRAS mutation status by screening circulating cancer cells in the bloodstream. We prospectively enrolled 210 stage II-III CRC patients who received adjuvant oxaliplatin plus infusional 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (FOLFOX)-4 chemotherapy with or without cetuximab. We compared the chip results of preoperative blood specimens with disease control status in these patients. Among the 168 CRC patients with negative chip results, 119 were treated with FOLFOX-4 plus cetuximab chemotherapy, and their relapse rate was 35.3 % (42/119). In contrast, the relapse rate was 71.4 % among the patients with negative chip results who received FOLFOX-4 treatment alone (35/49). Negative chip results were significantly correlated with better treatment outcomes in the FOLFOX-4 plus cetuximab group (P < 0.001). We suggest that the activating KRAS detection chip is a potential tool for predicting clinical outcomes in CRC patients following FOLFOX-4 treatment with or without cetuximab therapy.