Anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody panitumumab for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer: an overview of current practice and future perspectives

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Targeted agents alone or in combination with chemotherapy are current standard of treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Panitumumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody which inhibits the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). It is currently approved in combination with chemotherapy in first- and second-line and as a monotherapy in chemorefractory patients. RAS gene mutations confer resistance to anti-EGFR agents; thus, panitumumab is restricted to the treatment of RAS wild-type (WT) tumors.

Areas covered: This review explores the available data on panitumumab and presents new perspectives on predictive markers of anti-EGFR efficacy including primary tumor sidedness and BRAF mutations. Other details covered include panitumumab’s mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and safety aspects of the therapy as well as mechanisms of secondary resistance and future prospects of treatment in different settings.

Expert opinion: Panitumumab has significantly added to the treatment armamentarium for RAS WT mCRC. The effort spent in identifying predictive biomarkers of panitumumab efficacy has been of pivotal importance to development of the molecular selection of patients with mCRC. Primary and secondary resistance, however, still represent important issues. Novel strategies to overcome those issues are currently underway with promising results which highlight the potential use of panitumumab in combination with other targeted agents in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Panitumumab
• RAS
• colorectal cancer
• EGFR
• resistance

Declaration of interest

F Loupakis is an advisor/speaker for Amgen Inc, Bayer Healthcare, Eli Lilly and Company and Roche while S Lonardi is an advisor/speaker for Amgen Inc, Bayer Healthcare, Eli Lilly and Company, Roche and Sanofi. The authors have no other 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 apart from those disclosed.

Additional information

Funding

This manuscript has not been funded.