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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 14, 2016; 22(2): 887-894
Published online Jan 14, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i2.887
Biomarkers of skin toxicity induced by anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibody treatment in colorectal cancer
Akiko Kubo, Hironobu Hashimoto, Naoki Takahashi, Yasuhide Yamada
Akiko Kubo, Hironobu Hashimoto, Division of Pharmacy, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan
Naoki Takahashi, Yasuhide Yamada, Gastrointestinal Oncology Division, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan
Author contributions: Kubo A and Hashimoto H contributed equally to this work, generated the figure and wrote the manuscript; Takahashi N and Yamada Y contributed to the writing of the manuscript and designed the aim of the mini-review.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Naoki Takahashi, MD, Gastrointestinal Oncology Division, National Cancer Center Hospital, 5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan. naoki19800623@gmail.com
Telephone: +81-3-35422511 Fax: +81-3-35423815
Received: May 28, 2015
Peer-review started: June 1, 2015
First decision: September 29, 2015
Revised: October 20, 2015
Accepted: November 30, 2015
Article in press: December 1, 2015
Published online: January 14, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: Skin toxicity is a well-known biomarker used in the prognosis of anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody treatment of colorectal cancer patients. Previous retrospective studies indicated a change of the polymorphism of EGFR intron-1, chemokines and ligands were predictive markers of skin toxicity induced by anti-EGFR antibody. Such biomarkers used in predicting skin toxicity will enable the earlier management of skin toxicity as well as improve patients’ quality of life; however, further validations of prospective studies are needed. For patients with no/mild skin toxicity, a clinical trial of a dose escalation strategy is under evaluation and ongoing in the form of the EVEREST 2 study.