Expert Insights into Advances in Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment

Dr. Suneel Kamath, a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and an assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, emphasized the growing importance of understanding biomarkers in patients with gastrointestinal cancers.

He sat down for an interview with CURE to discuss how identifying biomarkers can impact survival and quality of life for patients.

Additionally, Kamath shared insights with CURE in previous interviews! The topics include:

1. Emerging targets in gastrointestinal cancer care
2. The role of clinical trials in advancing treatment options
3. Key highlights from the 2026 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium

Transcript

How is the growing understanding of biomarkers expanding treatment options for more patients with gastrointestinal cancers? Why does that matter for both survival and quality of life as outcomes continue to improve?

I would emphasize the fact that we are increasing the number of people who are eligible for biomarker-directed treatment. KRAS, in particular, is going to be a huge advance. Regarding other drugs, I know there are several they are making that have made a big splash so far, and rightfully so. They have shown very good promise early on and will be brought forward into phase three and hopefully get FDA approved in the near future. There is another very common gene in colorectal cancer and a few others called APC, which is present in pretty much every colorectal cancer for the most part. We finally have drugs in development to target that as well.

What is really exciting about all of this is that, so far, all of the biomarkers we have (such as HER2, BRAF, and several others) are all in the single-digit territory; maybe 5, 10, or 15% of people have them. That leaves a large proportion of people, over three-quarters, who are not eligible for these biomarker-directed treatments. As we make drugs for these much more common genes, it means we can personalize treatment for a huge number of people. I am very excited about that possibility, both in terms of it being better targeted for greater efficacy to help people live longer and for the quality of life during that time to be better because side effects are improved. That increasingly is going to be important as we get better outcomes.

There was a new report that came out about improved cancer outcomes showing more people are living to five years with cancers across the board. What that also means is that we need to focus more on quality of life and symptom management because people are on treatment for longer. We need to make sure that tolerability is good so that we are gaining quality time rather than poor quality time.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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