The epi­der­mal growth fac­tor recep­tor (EGFR) has been iden­ti­fied as a major con­trib­u­tor in many types of can­cer, includ­ing col­orec­tal and lung can­cer. EGFR is respon­si­ble for a cas­cade of cel­lu­lar sig­nals that result in accel­er­ated cel­lu­lar growth. The fol­low­ing drugs have been devel­oped to inhibit EGFR sig­nal­ing in the fol­low­ing cancers.

• Non-​​small cell lung can­cer: erlotinib (Tarceva^®) and gefi­tinib (Iressa^®)
• Col­orec­tal can­cer: cetux­imab (Erbitux^®) and pan­i­tu­mumab (Vectibix^®)

HER2/​neu is a spe­cific type of EGFR asso­ci­ated with roughly 20% of breast can­cer diag­noses. In these can­cers, over­pro­duc­tion of HER2/​neu results in aggres­sive tumor growth. Lap­a­tinib (Tykerb^®) and trastuzumab (Her­ceptin^®) have been approved to tar­get over­pro­duc­tion of HER2/​neu.

• U.S. Food and Drug Admin­is­tra­tion. (2011). Table of phar­ma­coge­nomic bio­mark­ers in drug labels. Retrieved from http://​www​.fda​.gov/​D​r​u​g​s​/​S​c​i​e​n​c​e​R​e​s​e​a​r​c​h​/​R​e​s​e​a​r​c​h​A​r​e​a​s​/​P​h​a​r​m​a​c​o​g​e​n​e​t​i​c​s​/​u​c​m​083378.htm