© 2003 by Gut
COMMENTARY
Cancer
A rat virus visits the clinic: translating basic discoveries into clinical medicine in the 21st century
Department of Medicine and Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr C R Boland, 4028 Basic Science Building, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, San Diego, CA 92093-0688, USA;
crboland@ucsd.edu
Mutant forms of the KRAS2 gene are present in the serum of patients who have undergone putatively curative surgery for colorectal cancer and may be used to guide novel therapies in the future by identifying those individuals at greatest risk of recurrence
Keywords: DNA; KRAS2; KRAS2 mutation; prognosis; colorectal carcinoma
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
One of the holy grails of biomedical research is to identify markers of occult disease that might lead to early treatment of that disease before the manifestations are overt—and ipso facto incurable. In this issue of Gut, Ryan and colleagues1 from Dublin report that one more application of basic science discovery might be ready for use in the management of patients with colorectal cancer [see page 101]. These investigators have found that mutant forms of the KRAS2 gene are present in the serum of patients who have undergone putatively curative surgery for colorectal cancer. This information can predict tumour recurrences and, by inference, might be used to guide novel therapies in the future by identifying those individuals at greatest risk of recurrence. We have all waited patiently for the fruits of the molecular biology revolution that began nearly two decades ago, and it may be worthwhile
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Relevant Article
- A prospective study of circulating mutant KRAS2 in the serum of patients with colorectal neoplasia: strong prognostic indicator in postoperative follow up
- B M Ryan, F Lefort, R McManus, J Daly, P W N Keeling, D G Weir, and D Kelleher
Gut 2003 52: 101-108.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
