title: Advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a review of current treatment strategies and developing therapies.
abstract: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is one of the deadliest solid malignancies. A large proportion of patients are diagnosed with locally advanced or metastatic disease at the time of presentation and, unfortunately, this severely limits the number of patients who can undergo surgical resection, which offers the only chance for cure. Recent therapeutic advances for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer have extended overall survival, but prognosis still remains grim. Given that traditional chemotherapy is ineffective in curing advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma, current research is taking a multidirectional approach in the hopes of developing more effective treatments. This article reviews the major clinical trial data that is the basis for the current chemotherapy regimens used as first- and second-line treatments for advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma. We also review the current ongoing clinical trials, which include the use of agents targeting the oncogenic network signaling of K-Ras, agents targeting the extracellular matrix, and immune therapies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teague
authors.affiliation: Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Kian-Huat
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Campus Box 8056, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wang-Gillam
keywords: chemotherapy; immune therapy; metastatic pancreatic cancer; stroma; targeted agents