Prognostic and predictive response factors in colorectal cancer patients: Between hope and reality

Table 2 Synopsis of major prognostic clinical factors derived from clinical studies on colorectal cancer, chemotherapy

Prognostic clinical factors	Positive	Negative	Methodology used	Predictive of response to therapy
Age:			CE
Young	No	Yes		No
Elderly (according to CGA):				Some limitations to choose the T
Fit	Yes	No
Unfit	No	Yes
Frail	No	Yes
PS-WHO:			CE	No
≤ 1	Yes	No
≥ 2	No	Yes
HIV+	No	Yes	LT, CE	Poor
Advanced clinical state	No	Yes	TNM, CE	No
Elevated CEA levels:			LT	No
Adjuvant	No	Yes
Metastatic	No	Yes
Elevated Ca19.9 levels	No	Yes	LT	No
Elevated ALP levels	No	Yes	LT	Poor
Skin rash[79,80]	Yes	Yes	HE	Further clinical validation required
Hypomagnesaemia[81,82]	Conflicting evidence	Conflicting evidence	Plasma magnesium levels	Further clinical validation required
Co-morbidities	No	Yes	ACE-27[83]/CE	Some limitation to choose the T

CE: Clinical evaluation; LT: Laboratory test; HE: Histology exam; T: Treatment (including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy); TNM: Tumor node metastasis.