Targeted therapy for colorectal cancer: mapping the way

In spite of the significant advances in conventional therapeutic approaches to colorectal cancer (CRC), most patients ultimately die of their disease. Dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying CRC progression will not only accelerate the development of novel cancer-selective drugs but will also enable the therapeutic regimen to be personalized according to the molecular features of individual patients and tumors. Here, we report on the novel insights into CRC biology that are paving the way to the development of molecular therapies and summarize the results from recent clinical trials demonstrating that agents targeting tumor-specific molecular derangements can significantly improve the therapeutic efficacy of conventional chemotherapy. Only a broader clinical implementation of these concepts will provide patients with CRC the best chance of a cure.