Abstract
The prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer is extremely poor, and current systemic therapies provide marginal survival benefits for treated patients. The era of targeted therapies has offered a new avenue to search for potentially more effective strategies. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a member of the erbB/human epidermal growth factor receptor family of tyrosine kinases, which includes erbB2/HER2, erbB3/HER3 and erbB4/HER4. Epidermal growth factor receptor overexpression may be detected in up to 90% of pancreatic tumors. Two pharmacologic approaches have been successfully used to inhibit epidermal growth factor receptor function in cancer treatment: neutralizing monoclonal antibodies and small molecule tyrosine inhibitors. The randomized trials studying the addition of EGFR targeted agents to gemcitabine compared with gemcitabine alone have been disappointing, although results with the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib were statistically significant but clinically of marginal benefit. In this article, we review the epidermal growth factor receptor signaling network in pancreatic cancer, the strategies to increase the effectiveness of epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors, and the clinical trials of these inhibitors in pancreatic cancer.
Keywords: Pancreatic cancer, EGFR-targeted therapy, cetuximab, erlotinib, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, signaling disorder, onconeogenesis, clinical trials, EGFR, mutations
Current Drug Targets
Title:Targeting EGFR in Pancreatic Cancer Treatment
Volume: 13 Issue: 6
Author(s): T. Troiani, E. Martinelli, A. Capasso, F. Morgillo, Michele Orditura, F. De Vita and F. Ciardiello
Affiliation:
Keywords: Pancreatic cancer, EGFR-targeted therapy, cetuximab, erlotinib, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, signaling disorder, onconeogenesis, clinical trials, EGFR, mutations
Abstract: The prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer is extremely poor, and current systemic therapies provide marginal survival benefits for treated patients. The era of targeted therapies has offered a new avenue to search for potentially more effective strategies. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a member of the erbB/human epidermal growth factor receptor family of tyrosine kinases, which includes erbB2/HER2, erbB3/HER3 and erbB4/HER4. Epidermal growth factor receptor overexpression may be detected in up to 90% of pancreatic tumors. Two pharmacologic approaches have been successfully used to inhibit epidermal growth factor receptor function in cancer treatment: neutralizing monoclonal antibodies and small molecule tyrosine inhibitors. The randomized trials studying the addition of EGFR targeted agents to gemcitabine compared with gemcitabine alone have been disappointing, although results with the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib were statistically significant but clinically of marginal benefit. In this article, we review the epidermal growth factor receptor signaling network in pancreatic cancer, the strategies to increase the effectiveness of epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors, and the clinical trials of these inhibitors in pancreatic cancer.
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Troiani T., Martinelli E., Capasso A., Morgillo F., Orditura Michele, De Vita F. and Ciardiello F., Targeting EGFR in Pancreatic Cancer Treatment, Current Drug Targets 2012; 13 (6) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/138945012800564158
DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/138945012800564158 |
Print ISSN 1389-4501 |
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher |
Online ISSN 1873-5592 |
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