Review
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World J Gastroenterol. Mar 7, 2023; 29(9): 1395-1426
Published online Mar 7, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i9.1395
Molecular mechanisms targeting drug-resistance and metastasis in colorectal cancer: Updates and beyond
Samar Al Bitar, Marwan El-Sabban, Samer Doughan, Wassim Abou-Kheir
Samar Al Bitar, Marwan El-Sabban, Wassim Abou-Kheir, Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiological Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Samer Doughan, Department of Surgery, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Author contributions: Al Bitar S designed and wrote the first draft of the paper and collected and analyzed the data; El-Sabban M, Doughan S, and Abou-Kheir W are co-senior authors and contributed to conception and reviewed and edited the paper; Al Bitar S, El-Sabban M, Doughan S, and Abou-Kheir W provided the final approval of the version to be published.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wassim Abou-Kheir, MSc, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiological Sciences, American University of Beirut, Bliss St, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon. wa12@aub.edu.lb
Received: September 13, 2022
Peer-review started: September 13, 2022
First decision: September 29, 2022
Revised: October 12, 2022
Accepted: November 16, 2022
Article in press: November 16, 2022
Published online: March 7, 2023
Core Tip

Core Tip: Efforts in cancer research has yielded significant advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying colorectal cancer (CRC) resistance and metastasis. Therapeutic strategies centered on targeted molecules involved in CRC progression have been shown to be highly promising in overcoming resistance to conventional treatments. Targeted agents are currently being evaluated in preclinical and clinical studies to identify novel pharmacological targets and to study the efficacy of personalized medicine-based approaches.