Advanced pancreatic cancer: is there a role for combination therapy?
Once thought to be a relatively untreatable disease, pancreatic cancer has recently become a focus of intense clinical research. The systemic administration of gemcitabine (Gemzar) is currently considered the standard first-line treatment for patients with advanced disease. While treatment with gemcitabine has been shown to result in both clinical benefit and prolongation of survival, objective tumor responses are relatively uncommon and median survival times remain short. Several recent efforts have therefore focused on evaluating chemotherapy regimens in which gemcitabine is combined with other cytotoxic drugs. While randomized trials have now confirmed that such combinations are associated with higher response rates, they have not yet clearly demonstrated that combination therapy results in a survival advantage. Increasingly, attention has turned to a number of novel chemotherapeutic and biologic agents that appear promising and are likely to play an important future role in the treatment of patients with this disease.
Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. matthew_kulke@dfci.harvard.edu
Matthew H
MH
Kulke
D000818:Animals; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002166:Camptothecin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011905:Genes, ras / Q000187:drug effects; D005971:Glutamates / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006147:Guanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000068437:Pemetrexed; D011480:Protease Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000093542:Gemcitabine
D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D005971:Glutamates; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; D011480:Protease Inhibitors; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; D000068437:Pemetrexed; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D006147:Guanine; C102714:irofulven; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex; C079905:rubitecan; D005472:Fluorouracil; D002166:Camptothecin; D000093542:Gemcitabine