This CRUK-funded study, led by the CRUK Scotland Centre and co-authored by researchers in the CRUK Oxford Centre, found that when therapies that block the MAPK pathway are used, the cells with these mutations quickly adapt by switching to a Wnt-associated stem phenotype, helping them survive treatment.
The good news? The team found that when plasticity is limited, such as in early metastatic disease or in tumours with RNF43 mutations, MAPK-targeted therapies produce strong responses.
Their work highlights that strategies to restrict cell-state transitions or exploit windows of vulnerability in early metastasis could improve outcomes with MAPK-targeted treatments.
Read the full paper in nature.
Read more about the CRC-STARS Initiative, which is co-led by Professor Simon Leedham from the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford.