[Recent progress in the treatment of colorectal cancer]

Considerable progress has been made in the treatment of colorectal cancer. Many new results have been presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in May 2005 at Orlando, FL, USA.

This update describes the highlights of the ASCO 2005 conference and the most recent publications in this field.

Therapy of metastatic colorectal cancer: studies could demonstrate that capecitabine can possibly replace 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in combination regimens with oxaliplatin. The EGF receptor antibody cetuximab shows activity as single agent and in combination with irinotecan. Combination with oxaliplatin/5-FU is under investigation. The VEGF antibody bevacizumab leads to improved efficacy in combination with all chemotherapies investigated so far, but shows no efficacy as single agent. Adjuvant therapy of colon cancer: oxaliplatin and 5-FU improves the disease-free survival compared with 5-FU regimens and is the new standard adjuvant treatment for stage III disease. Capecitabine demonstrates better tolerability and at least equal efficacy as 5-FU bolus regimens and should replace these regimens whenever an oxaliplatin-based therapy is not chosen. Irinotecan does not improve disease-free survival and has no proven benefit in the adjuvant setting. Monoclonal antibodies are integrated in new adjuvant trials.