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VIDEO: Microsatellite instability influences prognosis in colorectal cancer
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The identification of high microsatellite instability in tumors has led to advances in determining prognosis and response to therapy among patients with colorectal cancer, according to David H. Ilson, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Ilson, a HemOnc Today editorial board member, reviews the development of microsatellite instability, a phenotype that “results when you have mutations in DNA mismatch repair proteins.” This phenotype may occur as a random event in a tumor, according to Ilson, or as the result of a patient’s germline, known as Lynch syndrome.
Identifying the degree of microsatellite instability, which is less common in metastatic, stage 4 disease, enables clinicians to predict which patients may respond better to immunotherapy, according to Ilson.
“… It’s an exciting new era,” Ilson said. “[Microsatellite instability] … is a winner, in terms of a therapeutic target, and we look forward to more studies to define the benefits of new drugs in these patients.”