The Prognostic Yield of Biomarkers Harvested in Chemotherapy-Naive stage II Colon Cancer: Can We Separate the Wheat from the Chaff?

Abstract

Abstract The tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) system fails to accurately predict disease recurrence in a considerable number of patients. Although node-negative (stage II) colon cancer is considered to have an overall good prognosis, the 5-year cancer-specific survival is reported at 81–83% in patients who did not have adjuvant chemotherapy. Thus, reliance on node status alone has led to undertreatment in a subgroup of stage II patients with an unfavorable prognosis. The search for new and better prognosticators in stage II colon cancer has suggested several proposed biomarkers of better prognostication and prediction. However, few such biomarkers have reached widespread clinical utility. For the clinician swimming in the sea of emerging biomarkers, it may be hard to recognize the true floating aid from the surrounding debris in the search for more precise decision-making. Proposed markers include microsatellite instability (MSI) and KRAS and BRAF mutations, but a number of gene panels and consensus molecular subtypes are proposed for clinical prediction and prognostication as well. Although several studies suggest such biomarkers or panels to have a prognostic role in subgroups of patients, a number of studies are reported in heterogeneous groups with in part discordant findings, which again distorts the predictive and prognostic ability of each marker. Lack of homogeneous cohorts, underpowered studies in strict subgroups and challenges in analytical and clinical validity may hamper the progress toward widespread clinical utility. The harvest of prognostic biomarkers in colon cancer has yielded a huge number of candidates for which it is now time to separate the wheat from the chaff.