Therapeutic prevention of colorectal carcinogenesis

Frank L Meyskens
Department of Medicine, Biological Chemistry, and Public Health, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Irvine – 92868, California, USA.
DOI: 10.4103/1477-3163.79682

ABSTRACT

An overwhelming amount of experimental and observational information about the basic processes underlying carcinogenesis obtained during the 1970s to 1990s, led to a series of translational and eventually definitive placebo-controlled, double blind randomized controlled trials (RCT), involving patients at increased risk for breast, prostate, non-melanoma skin, cervix, chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and colon cancer. Despite clear evidence of the favorable effects on the primary endpoints, regulatory approval has been low and usage of those compounds, which have been approved, has been minimal to non-existent. How come? And what can we do to improve this situation, as we move ahead to the next generation of clinical studies? For cervical cancer and CML, respectively, we have the good news that a highly effective vaccine and a targeted therapy (Imatinib) supplanted retinoids as the intervention of choice. [1],[2] However, it is probably still worth looking into the vitamin A status of patients who develop cervical cancer, who have received the vaccine, or CML patients who relapse on Imatinib.Read More…