# Andrea Cercek

Source: https://onco.cc/people/andrea-cercek/  
OnCo record `andrea-cercek` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Led the study in which every patient with mismatch-repair-deficient rectal cancer had a complete response to dostarlimab, without surgery or radiation.

## Summary

Medical oncologist whose 2022 NEJM study of neoadjuvant dostarlimab in dMMR locally advanced rectal cancer produced a 100% clinical complete response rate, later extended to over 100 patients across dMMR solid tumours and now the basis of the AZUR-1 registrational programme. Co-directs MSK's young-onset colorectal cancer centre.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Role: Section Head, Colorectal Cancer; Co-Director, Center for Young Onset Colorectal and GI Cancers
- Specialisms: Colorectal cancer; Rectal cancer organ preservation; dMMR immunotherapy; Young-onset GI cancer

## Sources

- MSK profile: https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/doctors/andrea-cercek
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Cercek%20A%5BAuthor%5D

## Connected records

- cancers: [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [Mismatch-repair deficient (MSI-high) colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/msi-high-colorectal/), [Rectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/rectal-cancer/)
- technologies: [Immune checkpoint inhibitors](https://onco.cc/technologies/checkpoint-inhibitor/)
- targets: [PD-1](https://onco.cc/targets/pd1/)
- drugs: [Dostarlimab](https://onco.cc/drugs/dostarlimab/)
- institutions: [Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/mskcc/)
- trials: [AZUR-1](https://onco.cc/trials/azur-1/)
- key papers: [Cercek 2022: six months of dostarlimab alone made rectal cancer disappear in every patient with mismatch-repair deficiency](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-cercek-dostarlimab-rectal-nejm-2022/), [Clinical sequencing defines the genomic landscape of metastatic colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-yaeger-metastatic-colorectal-genomic-landscape-cancer-cell-2018/), [Colorectal cancer statistics, 2023](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-siegel-colorectal-cancer-statistics-ca-2023/), [Nonoperative management of mismatch repair-deficient tumors](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-cercek-nonoperative-management-mismatch-repair-deficient-tumours-nejm-2025/), [Organ preservation in patients with rectal adenocarcinoma treated with total neoadjuvant therapy (OPRA)](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-garcia-aguilar-opra-organ-preservation-jco-2022/), [Tucatinib plus trastuzumab for chemotherapy-refractory, HER2-positive, RAS wild-type unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer (MOUNTAINEER)](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-strickler-mountaineer-tucatinib-trastuzumab-lancet-oncol-2023/)
- roadmaps: [Colorectal cancer roadmap: from the adenoma-carcinoma sequence and the first screening trials to total mesorectal excision, oxaliplatin, RAS testing, immunotherapy for mismatch repair-deficient disease, ctDNA-guided treatment and organ preservation](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/colorectal-roadmap/)
- ideas: [Randomise organ preservation against surgery in mismatch repair-proficient rectal cancer, with bowel function as a co-primary endpoint](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-crc-organ-preservation-randomised-in-pmmr-rectal/)

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