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European Surgery
Published in: European Surgery 5/2016

Open Access 01-10-2016 | Original Article

Targeted therapy in gastric cancer

Authors: G. Jomrich, S. F. Schoppmann

Published in: European Surgery | Issue 5/2016

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Summary

Background

Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide. Surgery in combination with multimodal therapy provides the only curative therapy until now. The importance of targeted therapy became clear over the last few years. Due to the implication of HER2 and angiogenesis-directed targeted therapies major advances in the treatment of gastric cancer could be reached. Nevertheless, benefits in survival remain unsatisfactory and the development of resistance to monoclonal antibodies is arising.

Methods

A comprehensive and comparative literature research was performed to evaluate the status of HER2 and angiogenesis-directed targeted therapy in gastric cancer.

Results

Up to now, trastuzumab and ramucirumab are the only agents showing remarkable benefits in the therapy for the patients suffering from gastric cancer. The limitations of targeted therapies in gastric cancer are mainly associated with the development of secondary resistance.

Conclusion

Addition of targeted therapy in second-line treatment is beneficial when compared with chemotherapy alone. Nevertheless, results in first-line treatment remain modest. Therefore, new therapeutic agents and combinations in the first-line treatment of gastric cancer are urgently needed and remain to be validated in clinical trials.
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Metadata
Title
Targeted therapy in gastric cancer
Authors
G. Jomrich
S. F. Schoppmann
Publication date
01-10-2016
Publisher
Springer Vienna
Published in
European Surgery / Issue 5/2016
Print ISSN: 1682-8631
Electronic ISSN: 1682-4016
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10353-016-0389-1

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