Authors' recommendations: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States. Approximately 142,820 individuals will be diagnosed with CRC and 50,830 will die of the disease in the United States in 2013. In the United States, CRC is most common in blacks, in people older than 65 years of age, and in men. Risk factors for CRC include obesity; physical inactivity; smoking; heavy alcohol use; consumption of red meat and low consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables; and family history of CRC. Survival varies according to the stage of disease present at diagnosis. The disease staging system used in CRC is complex and based upon evaluation of 3 characteristics: degree of tumor penetration through the bowel wall (T); presence or absence of lymph node involvement (N); and distant metastasis (M). Approximately 40% of CRC patients are diagnosed when their disease has not spread (metastasized) beyond the colorectal area. In these cases, 90.3% of patients are still living after 5 years; for cancer that has spread to nearby lymph nodes but not metastasized to other parts of the body (36% of cases at diagnosis), 5-year survival is 70.4%; for disease that has metastasized to other parts of the body (20% of cases at diagnosis), 5-year survival is 12.5%. The Oncotype DX Colon Cancer Assay is a gene expression assay that was developed to help distinguish high-risk stage II CRC patients from standard-risk patients. An early version of the Oncotype DX Colon Cancer Assay included 7 genes associated with disease return, 6 genes associated with response to chemotherapy, and 5 reference genes. Based on the expression of these genes, separate prognostic Recurrence Score (RS) and prognostic Therapeutic Score (TS) algorithms were developed separating patients into low, intermediate, or high likelihood groups of disease return or response to chemotherapy, respectively. The currently commercially available version of the Oncotype DX Colon Cancer Assay does not include the TS; it is also marketed for use in stage III colon cancer patients, as well as the original stage II colon cancer population.

Project Status: Completed

Year Published: 2013

URL for published report: The report may be purchased from: http://www.hayesinc.com/hayes/crd/?crd=15445

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: United States

Organisation Name: HAYES, Inc.

Contact Address: 157 S. Broad Street, Suite 200, Lansdale, PA 19446, USA. Tel: 215 855 0615; Fax: 215 855 5218

Contact Name: saleinfo@hayesinc.com

Contact Email: saleinfo@hayesinc.com

Copyright: 2013 Winifred S. Hayes, Inc