Predictive and prognostic factors in the complex treatment of patients with colorectal cancer

Abstract Colon cancer is the second most prevalent lethal cancer. The main cause for high mortality rate is that the prognosis for progressed metastatic colon cancer is most unfavorable. Recent data suggest that disease outcome can be further improved by the addition of targeted biological agents to the first- or second-line treatment. As a result of molecularly targeted anti-EGFR therapies (cetuximab and panitumumab) complementing chemotherapy, liver metastases can reduce in size and become operable in certain patients, which can contribute to the complete recovery of the patient. The main problem, however, is the fact that a positive response only occurs in one third of the patients, even in the case of chemotherapy combined protocol, and the side effects are considerable. For the application of individually tailored treatments, it is an urgent need to develop a system of biomarkers that can predict the effect of treatment and provide information about the optimal selection of both chemotherapy and biol...