Targeted therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a highly lethal disease that is resistant to traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy. The last 30 years of chemotherapy clinical trials for advanced HCC have repeatedly failed to demonstrate any survival benefit for a long list of drugs. However a survival advantage was recently established for sorafenib, instituting a new standard of care for unresectable HCC. Here we review recent and ongoing studies of new therapeutic agents for HCC, including the small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies, and combinations of these drugs.
Skelton
Matthew R
MR
Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
O'Neil
Bert
B
D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D066246:ErbB Receptors