Open AccessTargeted medical therapy of biliary tract cancer: Recent advances and future perspectives
Author(s) -
Michael Höpfner,
Detlef Schuppan,
Hans Scherübl
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
world journal of gastroenterology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.427
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 2219-2840
pISSN - 1007-9327
DOI - 10.3748/wjg.14.7021
Subject(s) - targeted therapy , medicine , biliary tract , gallbladder cancer , biliary tract cancer , receptor tyrosine kinase , gallbladder , cancer , growth factor receptor , tyrosine kinase , bioinformatics , cancer research , oncology , receptor , biology , gemcitabine
The limited efficacy of cytotoxic therapy for advanced biliary tract and gallbladder cancers emphasizes the need for novel and more effective medical treatment options. A better understanding of the specific biological features of these neoplasms led to the development of new targeted therapies, which take the abundant expression of several growth factors and cognate tyrosine kinase receptors into account. This review will briefly summarize the status and future perspectives of antiangiogenic and growth factor receptor-based pharmacological approaches for the treatment of biliary tract and gallbladder cancers. In view of multiple novel targeted approaches, the rationale for innovative therapies, such as combinations of growth factor (receptor)-targeting agents with cytotoxic drugs or with other novel anticancer drugs will be highlighted.