Wu JC, Cheng HX, Lan QS, Xu HY, Zeng YJ, Lai W, Chu ZH. Penile metastasis from colon cancer with BRAFV600E mutation treated with BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy plus cetuximab: A case report. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2025; 17(3): 100152 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i3.100152]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Zhong-Hua Chu, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, No. 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, Guangdong Province, China. chuzhh@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Jun-Chen Wu, Hua-Xi Cheng, Qiu-Sheng Lan, He-Yang Xu, Yu-Jie Zeng, Wei Lai, Zhong-Hua Chu, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510120, Guangdong Province, China
Co-first authors: Jun-Chen Wu and Hua-Xi Cheng.
Co-corresponding authors: Wei Lai and Zhong-Hua Chu.
Author contributions: Wu JC and Cheng HX contributed to write the manuscript text and modified; Lan QS and Xu HY contributed to investigate the information of patient and collected the data; Zeng YJ contributed to analyze the data; Lai W and Chu ZH contributed to conceive the idea of the study, supervision and study administration; All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript to be published. Wu JC and Cheng HX contributed equally to this work as co-first authors. The reason for this is that the article was collaboratively completed by two individuals, both of whom dedicated substantial efforts to the implementation of the research. Lai W and Chu ZH were designated as co-corresponding authors because the article was written with the joint participation of both of them, who participated in the supervision and organization of the work.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81871981; and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, No. 2022A1515012348 and No. 2023A1515010457.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to CARE Checklist (2016).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zhong-Hua Chu, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, No. 107 Yan Jiang West Road, Guangzhou 510120, Guangdong Province, China. chuzhh@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Received: August 11, 2024 Revised: November 3, 2024 Accepted: December 13, 2024 Published online: March 15, 2025 Processing time: 186 Days and 20.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The incidence of colon cancer has been progressively increasing over time, whereas penile metastasis of colon cancer has remained exceedingly uncommon. Since the prognosis for colon cancer with BRAFV600E mutation is relatively unfavorable, further exploration and investigation are still required to develop treatment strategies for such rare cases.
CASE SUMMARY
About one year after surgery and chemotherapy, a 50-year-old patient with sigmoid colon cancer developed a mass at the base of the patient's penis, accompanied by severe tenderness and pain during urination. With disease progression, multiple metastatic nodules also emerged in other regions of the penis, including the coronal sulcus. The nodules located in the coronal sulcus were excised for histopathological examination. The histopathological findings revealed that the nodules were metastases originating from the sigmoid colon cancer, with a BRAFV600E mutation detected. This prompted a modification of the therapy regimen of cetuximab, dabrafenib and trametinib, which effectively held back the progression of penile metastasis in the patient.
CONCLUSION
Combining the BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy with cetuximab demonstrates a favorable therapeutic response in BRAFV600E-mutated colon cancer with penile metastasis.
Core Tip: Despite the increasing incidence and prevalence of colorectal cancer among malignant tumors, penile metastasis originating from colorectal cancer remains a rare occurrence. The precise mechanism underlying penile metastasis of colorectal cancer remains elusive, and its specific treatment remains a subject of controversy, particularly in patients with BRAFV600E mutation, which often signifies an unfavorable prognosis. In our case, the treatment of BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy (dabrafenib and trametinib) plus cetuximab demonstrated promising outcomes, leading to tumor regression and prolonged survival, thereby offering valuable insights for the management of analogous cases.
