MErCuRIC is a pan-­‐European collaboration which assembles European and global leaders with acknowledged expertise in the biology, pathology and clinical management
of CRC. The concept of the MErCuric proposal is to use a personalised medicine clinical
trial strategy to target two key proteins, MEK and MET, which are dysregulated in mCRC. This novel multicentre investigator-­‐led clinical trial, inhibiting both MEK and MET in combination (MEKi)/METi), will improve OS in the stratified mCRC cohort. The comprehensive scientific dissection of disease biology described in this proposal will
not only provide new insights on efficacy, but will also underpin development of new
diagnostic and predictive tools that will inform both current and future efforts of the MErCuRIC consortium to combat mCRC. The Consortium will go beyond the current
state-­‐of-­‐the-­‐art by (i) employing a novel treatment strategy targeting the biology of the disease; (ii) using next generation sequencing (NGS), miRNA and companion diagnostics strategies to identify/stage CRC patient subgroups who will maximally benefit from this novel treatment strategy and (iii) deploying (a) non-­‐invasive detection tools (b) relevant preclinical models to underpin novel stratified solutions for patients with acquired drug-­‐ resistance.

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