Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.
Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths. At present, anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) cetuximab and panitumumab and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mAb bevacizumab have been incorporated into treatment paradigms for patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. However, many patients simply do not respond to these treatments or eventually acquire resistance following a short course therapy. In this article, we review the literature for studies on the expression patterns, prognostic significance and predictive value of HER (also called erbB) family members and other factors for response to therapy with the HER inhibitors in colorectal cancer. We discuss some of the advances, challenges as well as future opportunities for more effective targeting of the HER receptors using a cocktail of HER inhibitors (e.g. dual and pan HER TKIs, monospecific or bispecific antibodies) in combination with other therapeutic interventions.