Novel therapeutic strategies for advanced pancreatic cancer: targeting the epidermal growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor pathways / 中国癌症杂志

ABSTRACT

The introduction of novel agents targeted to specific molecular targets of cancer cells offers more treatment options and improvement in outcome for exocrine pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Due to the limitations in the scope and scale of researches, this review of clinical studies presents the effects of administering the agents targeting the receptors or ligands of epidermal growth factor (EGF) or vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to treat advanced pancreatic carcinoma. In addition, the basic knowledge on the mechanisms of therapy targeting EGFR and VEGFR were described. Among all agents, erlotinib has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and incorporated in a number of treatment guidelines. It has been shown, in a randomized phase Ⅲ clinical trial reported by the National Cancer Institute of Canada, to extend survival when used in combination with gemcitabine;however,its use as monotherapy has not produced significant efficacy. Furthermore, results from a muiticenter randomized clinical trial has demonstrated that the combined utilization of erlotinib and bevaeimlmab, in current with gemcitabine significantly improved the progression-free survival, but has no significant effect on overall survival of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Other agents including cetuximab, bevaeizumab, sorafenib, sunitinib, etc. used along or in combination with chemotherapy are under active investigation.