Knowing Is Worth the Wait
Why Biomarkers Matter in Colorectal Cancer
What Are Biomarkers?
Biomarkers are clues about your health found in your body. For colorectal cancer, they include where your tumor is located, substances in your blood, and changes in your genes or tumor cells. These clues help your healthcare team choose the best treatment for you.
How Biomarkers Guide Your Treatment
Finding the Right Therapy
Targeted therapies are drugs designed to attack cancer cells directly. Your biomarkers tell your oncology team which treatments will work best for your specific cancer.
For example:
· Tumors with MSI-High (also known as dMMR) often respond well to immunotherapy
· Certain gene changes like KRAS mutations, HER2 abnormalities, or BRAF mutations, help healthcare providers choose different drugs to fightyour cancer more effectively
Avoiding Treatments That Won't Work
Some treatments don't work for certain types of colorectal cancer. Your biomarkers help your team avoid giving you medicine that won't help you. For instance, EGFR inhibitors don't usually work if you have KRAS mutations, so healthcare providers won't prescribe them.
Protecting You from Harmful Side Effects
Some people's bodies can't break down certain chemotherapy drugs safely. Biomarker tests like DPD/DPYD and UGT1A1 show if you're at risk for severe side effects. This helps your oncology team choose safer doses or different drugs.
Understanding Your Outlook
Some biomarkers predict how aggressive your cancer might be or if it's likely to come back after treatment. This information helps your care team decide:
· Whether you need chemotherapy after surgery
· How often you need follow-up tests like scans and blood work
Planning Your Surgery
Biomarker testing can reveal if you have a hereditary cancer syndrome like Lynch Syndrome or Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP). These conditions mean you're at very high risk for cancer or recurrence. People with these conditions might need more extensive surgery to remove more of their colon or rectum to prevent cancer from coming back.
Opening Doors to Clinical Trials
Many cancer clinical trials use biomarkers to match patients with new treatments. Your biomarker results help you and your oncology team find trials that might benefit you specifically.
Important tip: Get your biomarker testing done before starting treatment. Many clinical trials only accept patients who haven't started treatment yet.
Knowing Is Worth the Wait
When you're diagnosed with cancer, you naturally want to start treatment immediately. That urgency is completely understandable. It affects patients, families, and even healthcare providers.
But here's the truth: waiting for biomarker results isn't hesitation, it's precision.
The problem is that many patients aren't getting biomarker testing before treatment starts. Studies show that more than 60% of colorectal cancer patients begin treatment without any biomarker testing. This means they're missing the chance for more effective, personalized care.
Biomarker test results typically come back in 10-14 days, though sometimes it takes a few weeks. Yes, waiting can feel difficult. But starting treatment without this information could mean:
· Missing out on therapies specifically designed for your type of cancer
· Taking treatments that won't work for you
· Losing the chance to join a clinical trial (many require you haven't started treatment yet)
Those two weeks of waiting could be the difference betweengetting the right treatment from the start versus trying treatments that don'twork and losing valuable time.
The Bottom Line
Every colorectal cancer is unique. Biomarker testing gives you and your healthcare team the information needed to create a personalized treatment plan that's right for you. It helps find treatments that will work, avoid ones that won't, and connects you with new options through clinical trials.
Don't skip biomarker testing. Talk to your healthcare team about getting tested before you start treatment. The wait is worth it.