Clinical Application of Targeted Next Generation Sequencing for Colorectal Cancers

• Main Authors: Quitterie Fontanges, Ricardo De Mendonca, Isabelle Salmon, Marie Le Mercier, Nicky D’Haene
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2016-12-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: targeted next generation sequencing; colorectal cancer; clinical application
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/17/12/2117

Promising targeted therapy and personalized medicine are making molecular profiling of tumours a priority. For colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, international guidelines made RAS (KRAS and NRAS) status a prerequisite for the use of anti-epidermal growth factor receptor agents (anti-EGFR). Daily, new data emerge on the theranostic and prognostic role of molecular biomarkers, which is a strong incentive for a validated, sensitive and broadly available molecular screening test in order to implement and improve multi-modal therapy strategy and clinical trials. Next generation sequencing (NGS) has begun to supplant other technologies for genomic profiling. Targeted NGS is a method that allows parallel sequencing of thousands of short DNA sequences in a single test offering a cost-effective approach for detecting multiple genetic alterations with a minimum amount of DNA. In the present review, we collected data concerning the clinical application of NGS technology in the setting of colorectal cancer.