Korean J Intern Med.  2013 Mar;28(2):149-155. 10.3904/kjim.2013.28.2.149.

Molecular targeted therapy for advanced gastric cancer

• Kim JG

• KMID: 1501767
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3904/kjim.2013.28.2.149

Abstract

Although medical treatment has been shown to improve quality of life and prolong survival, no significant progress has been made in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer (AGC) within the last two decades. Thus, the optimum standard first-line chemotherapy regimen for AGC remains debatable, and most responses to chemotherapy are partial and of short duration; the median survival is approximately 7 to 11 months, and survival at 2 years is exceptionally > 10%. Recently, remarkable progress in tumor biology has led to the development of new agents that target critical aspects of oncogenic pathways. For AGC, many molecular targeting agents have been evaluated in international randomized studies, and trastuzumab, an anti-HER-2 monoclonal antibody, has shown antitumor activity against HER-2-positive AGC. However, this benefit is limited to only ~20% of patients with AGC (patients with HER-2-positive AGC). Therefore, there remains a critical need for both the development of more effective agents and the identification of molecular predictive and prognostic markers to select those patients who will benefit most from specific chemotherapeutic regimens and targeted therapies.

Keyword

Stomach neoplasms; Drug therapy; Targeted agents

MeSH Terms

Angiogenesis Inhibitors/therapeutic use
Animals
Antineoplastic Agents/*therapeutic use
Humans
*Molecular Targeted Therapy
Protein Kinase Inhibitors/therapeutic use
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor/antagonists & inhibitors/metabolism
Receptor, erbB-2/antagonists & inhibitors/metabolism
Signal Transduction/drug effects
Stomach Neoplasms/*drug therapy/enzymology/genetics/pathology
Treatment Outcome
Angiogenesis Inhibitors
Antineoplastic Agents
Protein Kinase Inhibitors
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor
Receptor, erbB-2