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Dear Colleagues,

Colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) occur in nearly half of the patients with colorectal cancer and are the main cause of cancer-related death within this population. Although liver resection remains the mainstay of treatment, multidisciplinary management of CRLM, including the introduction of effective downsizing regimens and new surgical concepts, has improved the oncological outcome over recent years, resulting in long-term survival rates of up to 50-60% based on patient selection and prognostic factors. With the implementation of next-generation sequencing (NGS) of cancer-related genes and molecular profiling, another interesting and encouraging field of multimodal therapeutic and prognostic approaches has arisen. In fact, the most prominent and frequently analyzed mutations affect the RAS/RAF pathway (KRAS, NRAS, BRAF) as well as TP53 and PIK3CA and SMAD4. The aim of NGS is to facilitate the provision of individual oncologic precision medicine to each patient with CRLM and to increase their chance of long-term survival or even being cured. Nevertheless, there are several open questions concerning the limitations, the correct use in clinical daily routine, and the effectiveness and applicability of molecular biomarkers in patients with CRLM.

The present Special Issue aims to provide an update on current diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for CRLM, with special focus on surgical treatment embedded in multimodal treatment concepts including chemotherapy, local ablation and interventional treatment, external or internal radiotherapy as well as treatment-based molecular profiling.

Prof. Dr. Hauke Lang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

colorectal liver metastases
multimodal treatment
next-generation sequencing
molecular biology
chemotherapy
SIRT
TACE
liver resection

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 860 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Safety of Early Bevacizumab Administration after Central Venous Port Placement for Patients with Colorectal Cancer

by Hirona Shigyo, Hiroyuki Suzuki, Toshimitsu Tanaka, Etsuko Moriyama, Yasutaka Shimotsuura, Sachiko Nagasu, Hideki Iwamoto, Yoshito Akagi, Kenta Murotani, Takumi Kawaguchi and Keisuke Miwa

Cancers 2023, 15(8), 2264; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15082264 - 12 Apr 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1858

Abstract

Bevacizumab (BEV) requires an adequate withdrawal period to avoid BEV-related complications during major surgery. However, the safety of BEV administration immediately after surgical placement of the central venous (CV) port, a minor surgery, is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether BEV is safe when administered early after CV port placement. We retrospectively evaluated 184 patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) treated with a BEV-containing regimen and divided them into two groups according to the interval between CV port implantation and chemotherapy initiation, with the early administration group being ≤7 days and late administration group being >7 days. Complications were then compared between the two groups. The early-administration group was significantly older and had a higher rate of colon cancer than the late-administration group. Overall, 24 (13%) patients developed CV port-related complications. Male sex was a risk factor for complications (odds ratio [OR], 3.154; 95% CI, 1.19–8.36). The two groups showed no significant difference in the frequency of complications (p = 0.84) or patient characteristics (after the inverse probability of treatment weighting, p = 0.537). In conclusion, the frequency of complications is not affected by the timing of BEV initiation after CV port implantation. Thus, early BEV administration after CV port placement is safe. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interdisciplinary Management of Colorectal Liver Metastases in the Era of Precision Medicine)

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Review

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16 pages, 1554 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Role of Targeted Therapy in the Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Colorectal Liver Metastasis

by Samantha M. Ruff, Alexander H. Shannon and Timothy M. Pawlik

Cancers 2023, 15(13), 3513; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15133513 - 6 Jul 2023

Viewed by 1496

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States. Among newly diagnosed patients with CRC, 20% will present with metastatic disease and another 25% will develop metastases. The surgical resection of the primary tumor and metastatic disease sites confers the best chance at long-term survival. Unfortunately, many patients will recur after resection or present with unresectable disease. As such, metastatic CRC is commonly treated with a combination of surgery, systemic therapy, and/or liver-directed therapies. Despite best efforts, 5-year survival for unresectable metastatic CRC is only about 20%. CRC is a heterogeneous disease and the underlying genetic differences inform behavior, treatment strategy, and prognosis. Given the limitations of cytotoxic chemotherapy and the growing role of molecular profiling, research has focused on identifying and developing targeted therapies. We herein review how genetic profiling informs prognosis, crucial cell-signaling pathways that play a role in CRC carcinogenesis, and currently approved targeted therapies for metastatic CRC. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interdisciplinary Management of Colorectal Liver Metastases in the Era of Precision Medicine)

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