Updates in the Treatment of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

Molecular biomarker testing for all patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) has become increasingly important because identifying targetable alterations can lead to meaningful clinical benefits. At a minimum, testing should include RAS, BRAF mutational status, microsatellite instability status, HER2 expression, NTRK, and RET mutations. For HER2-amplified cancer, the NCCN Guidelines offer multiple treatment options, including trastuzumab in combination with tucatinib or pertuzumab, and trastuzumab-deruxtecan. Combination trastuzumab 1 tucatinib has recently received approval by the FDA for refractory RAS wild-type, HER2-amplified CRC. The addition of bevacizumab to trifluridine/tipiracil treatment has significantly prolonged median overall survival compared with trifluridine/tipiracil alone, regardless of molecular subtypes. KRAS G12C–targeted therapies are on the horizon, with several agents in ongoing studies. Furthermore, bilevel blockade is important when addressing MAP kinase pathway alterations.