Correlation between Gene Variants, Signaling Pathways, and Efficacy of Chemotherapy Drugs against Colon Cancers

Efficacies, toxicities, and resistance mechanisms of chemotherapy drugs, such as oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), vary widely among various categories and subcategories of colon cancers. By understanding the differences in the drug efficacy and resistance at the level of protein–protein networks, we identified the correlation between the drug activity of oxaliplatin/5-FU and gene variations from the US National Cancer Institute-60 human cancer cell lines. The activity of either of these drugs is correlated with specific amino acid variant(s) of KRAS and other genes from the signaling pathways of colon cancer progression. We also discovered that the activity of a non-DNA-binding novel platinum drug, phosphaplatin, is comparable with oxaliplatin and 5-FU when it was tested against colon cancer cell lines. Our strategy that combines the knowledge from pharmacogenomics across cell lines with the molecular information from specific cancer cells is beneficial for predicting the outcome of a possible combination therapy for personalized treatment.