We’re committed to our mission of finding new treatments that may help improve the lives of people with cancer. Our clinical trials for colorectal cancer study investigational medications alone, or in combination with other study medications, or standard of care therapy. We perform these trials to see if they can help prevent, find, or treat cancer.

Colon and rectal cancers (also known as colorectal cancer) begin as polyps, which are abnormal growths inside the colon or rectum. If not removed, these polyps may become cancerous. Stage IV, or advanced colorectal cancer, means that the cancer cells from the colon or rectum have spread to other parts of the body.

Microsatellite instability (MSI) in colon and rectal cancer

In order to properly plan your treatment, your doctor may want to know if your cancer cells are microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H). In most people, proteins known as MMR (mismatch repair) correct errors in the DNA. However, in some people with colorectal cancers, the genes that form the MMR proteins are defective and this can make parts of the DNA unstable, which is known as a deficient MMR (dMMR) system. Tumors that have a dMMR system can develop microsatellite instability (MSI).