Speaking with Prof Gordon McVie of ecancer at NCRI 2011, Prof Alberto Bardelli discusses his work with GI tumours, RAS and how a breakthrough in research came by accident.

Prof Bardelli met with a number of clinicians with patients that did not respond to therapy. He systematically profiled these patients in a study and discovered one of the first genes in colorectal cancer, K-ras, which could be used to make clinically useful decisions.

All cases of RAS mutations are not the same. Mutations can occur in either position 12 and 13 and these two mutations create the need for unique therapies. The latest findings with RAS have been that K-ras can be used as a marker for predicting other drugable targets. Prof Bardelli concludes that the goal is to move forward by using combination therapy.