{"entity":{"id":"andrea-cercek","kind":"person","name":"Andrea Cercek","aka":[],"tldr":"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.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"MSK profile","url":"https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/doctors/andrea-cercek"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Cercek%20A%5BAuthor%5D"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["colorectal"],"sections":[],"technologies":["checkpoint-inhibitor"],"targets":["pd1"],"drugs":["dostarlimab"],"companies":[],"institutions":["mskcc"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":["azur-1"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"role":"Section Head, Colorectal Cancer; Co-Director, Center for Young Onset Colorectal and GI Cancers","institutionId":"mskcc","specialisms":["Colorectal cancer","Rectal cancer organ preservation","dMMR immunotherapy","Young-onset GI cancer"],"profiles":[{"label":"MSK profile","url":"https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/doctors/andrea-cercek"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Cercek%20A%5BAuthor%5D"}],"papers":[{"title":"PD-1 blockade in mismatch repair-deficient, locally advanced rectal cancer","journal":"New England Journal of Medicine","year":2022,"url":"https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2201445","doi":"10.1056/NEJMoa2201445"},{"title":"Nonoperative management of mismatch repair-deficient tumors","journal":"New England Journal of Medicine","year":2025}]},"route":"/people/andrea-cercek/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"colorectal","kind":"cancer","name":"Colorectal cancer","route":"/cancers/colorectal/"},{"id":"msi-high-colorectal","kind":"cancer","name":"Mismatch-repair deficient (MSI-high) colorectal cancer","route":"/cancers/msi-high-colorectal/"},{"id":"rectal-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Rectal cancer","route":"/cancers/rectal-cancer/"}],"technology":[{"id":"checkpoint-inhibitor","kind":"technology","name":"Immune checkpoint inhibitors","route":"/technologies/checkpoint-inhibitor/"}],"target":[{"id":"pd1","kind":"target","name":"PD-1","route":"/targets/pd1/"}],"drug":[{"id":"dostarlimab","kind":"drug","name":"Dostarlimab","route":"/drugs/dostarlimab/"}],"institution":[{"id":"mskcc","kind":"institution","name":"Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/mskcc/"}],"trial":[{"id":"azur-1","kind":"trial","name":"AZUR-1","route":"/trials/azur-1/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-cercek-dostarlimab-rectal-nejm-2022","kind":"paper","name":"Cercek 2022: six months of dostarlimab alone made rectal cancer disappear in every patient with mismatch-repair deficiency","route":"/key-papers/paper-cercek-dostarlimab-rectal-nejm-2022/"},{"id":"paper-yaeger-metastatic-colorectal-genomic-landscape-cancer-cell-2018","kind":"paper","name":"Clinical sequencing defines the genomic landscape of metastatic colorectal cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-yaeger-metastatic-colorectal-genomic-landscape-cancer-cell-2018/"},{"id":"paper-siegel-colorectal-cancer-statistics-ca-2023","kind":"paper","name":"Colorectal cancer statistics, 2023","route":"/key-papers/paper-siegel-colorectal-cancer-statistics-ca-2023/"},{"id":"paper-cercek-nonoperative-management-mismatch-repair-deficient-tumours-nejm-2025","kind":"paper","name":"Nonoperative management of mismatch repair-deficient tumors","route":"/key-papers/paper-cercek-nonoperative-management-mismatch-repair-deficient-tumours-nejm-2025/"},{"id":"paper-garcia-aguilar-opra-organ-preservation-jco-2022","kind":"paper","name":"Organ preservation in patients with rectal adenocarcinoma treated with total neoadjuvant therapy (OPRA)","route":"/key-papers/paper-garcia-aguilar-opra-organ-preservation-jco-2022/"},{"id":"paper-strickler-mountaineer-tucatinib-trastuzumab-lancet-oncol-2023","kind":"paper","name":"Tucatinib plus trastuzumab for chemotherapy-refractory, HER2-positive, RAS wild-type unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer (MOUNTAINEER)","route":"/key-papers/paper-strickler-mountaineer-tucatinib-trastuzumab-lancet-oncol-2023/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"colorectal-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"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","route":"/roadmaps/colorectal-roadmap/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-crc-organ-preservation-randomised-in-pmmr-rectal","kind":"idea","name":"Randomise organ preservation against surgery in mismatch repair-proficient rectal cancer, with bowel function as a co-primary endpoint","route":"/ideas/idea-crc-organ-preservation-randomised-in-pmmr-rectal/"}]}}