Variations in genes regulating tumor-associated macrophage- (TAM) related functions are significantly associated with clinical outcomes, according to a study of genomic DNA extracted from patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who were treated with bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy. Researchers found:

• TBK1 rs7486100 was significantly associated with overall survival in 95 KRAS wild-type patients in univariate analysis and had a strong trend in multivariable analysis; furthermore, the association of the T allele was seen for progression-free survival (PFS) in both univariate and multivariate analyses in patients treated with bevacizumab, but not those treated with cetuximab.

• CCL2 rs4586, CCL18 rs14304, and IRF rs2304205 had univariate and multivariable correlations with PFS in KRAS mutant patients, while they had no correlations in KRAS wild-type patients.

Citation: Sunakawa Y, Stintzing S, Cao S, et al. Variations in genes regulating tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) to predict outcomes of bevacizumab-based treatment in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer: Results from TRIBE and FIRE3 trials. [Published online ahead of print September 28, 2015]. Ann Oncol. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdv474.