Patent ID: 8273534

Claim:
A method for predicting a likelihood that a human patient with an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)—expressing colorectal cancer will exhibit a beneficial response to an EGFR inhibitor comprising: (a) measuring, in a tumor sample obtained from the patient, a level of an RNA transcript, or its expression product, for each of solute carrier family 26, member 3 (SLC26A3), amphiregulin (AREG), epiregulin (EREG) and dual specificity phosphatase 6 (DUSP6), (b) normalizing the level of the RNA transcript, or its expression product, for each of SLC26A3, AREG, EREG, and DUSP6 to obtain a normalized expression level for each of SLC26A3, AREG, EREG, and DUSP6; and (c) using the normalized expression level to determine the likelihood that the patient will exhibit a beneficial response to an EGFR inhibitor, wherein the normalized expression levels of SLC26A3, AREG, and EREG are positively correlated with the likelihood that the patient will exhibit a beneficial response to the EGFR inhibitor, and wherein the normalized expression level of DUSP6 is negatively correlated with the likelihood that the patient will exhibit a beneficial response to the EGFR inhibitor.