Novel advances in pancreatic cancer treatment

Abstract

Little progress has been made on the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer. Gemcitabine has been an acceptable standard for more than a decade. The benefit of single-agent gemcitabine in advanced and metastatic pancreatic cancer is small. Adding other chemotherapy agents to gemcitabine has not resulted in meaningful improvement in survival. The randomized trials studying the addition of molecular targeting agents (cetuximab, bevacizumab, farnesyl transferase inhibitors and metalloproteinase inhibitors) to gemcitabine compared with gemcitabine alone have been disappointing. A small gain in median survival by adding erlotinib to gemcitabine has recently been reported. We herein review novel agents in pancreatic cancer that may change the current nihilistic approach in the management of this challenging disease.

Keywords::

• epithelial growth factor
• monoclonal antibodies
• pancreatic cancer
• targeted therapies
• vascular endothelial growth factor
• VEGF

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.