Is FGFR2 a Suitable Target to Treat Scirrhous-Type Gastric Cancer?

Excerpt

Gastric cancer (GC) is the third most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and approximately 1,000,000 people suffer from GC every year.1 Despite the advances in diagnosis and treatment, prognosis of advanced GC still remains poor. Scirrhous-type GC, composed mainly of diffuse-type GC cells, forms a Borrmann type 4 lesion and shows diffuse infiltration into the gastric wall with abundant fibrous stroma, resulting in thickening and rigidity of the stomach wall. Scirrhous-type GC shows rapid proliferation, progressive invasion, and a high frequency of metastasis to the peritoneum. Increasing rigidity and interstitial pressure may interfere with drug delivery to cancer cells. Crosstalk between cancer cells and fibroblasts/macrophages has been deeply involved in the progression of scirrhous-type GC. Reflecting such characteristics, scirrhous-type GC has the worst prognosis, with a 5-year survival rate of < 15%; therefore, better knowledge of the biological basis of scirrhous-type GC is necessary to improve its treatment. …