Molecularly targeted therapy for metastatic colon cancer: Proven treatments and promising new agents

Treatment algorithms and survival for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer have changed dramatically over the past decade, largely due to the advent of molecularly targeted agents. The lessons we have learned with the integration of bevacizumab and cetuximab/panitumumab into standard therapy is that meaningful clinical end points can be achieved, and more patients with metastatic colorectal cancer are being cured or kept alive with a reasonable quality of life due to these new agents. As we enter this second decade of "modern therapy" for metastatic colorectal cancer, an ever-increasing number of new agents aimed at a variety of targets believed to promote cancer cell growth are being tested in clinical trials, and dozens of studies of novel targeted therapies are ongoing. Moreover, during the next decade, we can expect to see an explosion of new agents that will likely improve clinical outcomes further. This review focuses on molecularly targeted agents that are being used regularly in the treatment of colorectal cancer and highlights a number of new agents/targets that are being explored and appear promising in phase I or early phase II trials.