New drugs in the treatment of gastric tumors.
Despite the progress in cancer therapeutics and chemotherapy development with the introduction of new drugs, advanced gastric cancer continues to have an extremely poor prognosis and with limited treatment options. The introduction of new antitarget drugs has introduced a new perspective in cancer treatment in general and gastric cancer in particular. Nevertheless, few studies have been developed with this generation of drugs. The monoclonal antibody antiepidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) cetuximab and the antiangiogenic bevacizumab have been used in phase I and II studies with good results, which need to be confirmed in new phase III studies. The carcinogenesis of this tumor provides information regarding two transcription and signaling pathways of great interest and with therapeutic potential. Infection by Helicobacter pylori is recognized as the cause of gastric cancer development, and there are two elements that play an important role in this process: the CagA gene, whose protein is introduced in the cell by H. pylori initiates the process; and the hedgehog signaling pathway, which regulates the gastric mucosa and is very frequently activated in gastric cancer. Taking action on these agents may be a new and effective method of treating gastric cancer, and therefore must be researched.
Abad
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University Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Badalona, Barcelona, Spain. aabad@ico.scs.es
D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins