Targeting KRAS in Gastrointestinal Cancers

At the 2023 World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancers, John Strickler, MD, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, reviews the currently available and upcoming strategies in targeting KRAS in gastrointestinal cancers.

Dr Strickler stated, "This is a promising time for the development of these KRAS inhibitors into the clinic, and we know that in order to make major breakthroughs in the management of gastrointestinal cancers to bring these precision cancer medicine strategies into the clinic, we'll need to find new and innovative ways to target KRAS."

Transcript:

I'm John Strickler, associate professor of medicine and GI Medical oncologist at Duke University, attending World GI this year. So here at the conference I'll be talking about targeting KRAS, and it's been known for many years that KRAS is first a very common target in most GI cancers, but secondly that it's a difficult target to drug.

In recent years we've seen some breakthroughs in targeting KRAS, specifically with KRAS-G12C inhibitors. I'll be reviewing  findings from our currently available KRAS-G12C inhibitors and then some new findings from new molecules entering the clinic. We know that in order to make major breakthroughs in targeting KRAS, we need to extend beyond KRAS-G12C to other significant variants that are fairly common in GI cancer, specifically KRAS-G12D and others. I'll be reviewing as well progress made in terms of targeting these more common variants in the clinic, some of the novel strategies that are being employed to target these variants and what the future looks like for targeting KRAS-G12D and others for GI cancers and beyond.

I'll also be looking at some other strategies beyond just the precision cancer medicine targeted therapeutics, also looking at some immunotherapy strategies that have already shown some interesting findings in the clinic. Overall, this is a promising time for the development of these KRAS inhibitors into the clinic, and we know that in order to make major breakthroughs in the management of GI cancers to bring these precision cancer medicine strategies into the clinic, we'll need to find new and innovative ways to target KRAS.

Source:

Strickler J. Targeted KRAS in GI Cancers. Presented at 2023 World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancers; June 28-July 1, 2023; Barcelona, Spain.