Dr. Catenacci on the Challenges of Developing Novel Therapies in Gastroesophageal Cancer

Daniel Catenacci, MD, associate professor of medicine, gastrointestinal medical oncologist, director, Gastrointestinal Oncology Program, and assistant director of translational research, Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the challenges of developing novel therapies in gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma.

Identifying actionable alterations has been a challenging area of research in gastroesophageal cancer for a variety of reasons, says Catenacci.

A subgroup of patients have spatial heterogeneity within their tumors, meaning that they may express an actionable target in their primary tumor site, but not in all sites of metastatic disease, explains Catenacci.

Additionally, biomarker expression may evolve over the course of a patient’s disease, says Catenacci. In particular, targeted therapy may put selective pressure on tumors which could result in biomarker loss, concludes Catenacci.