Skip Navigation


British Medical Bulletin Advance Access originally published online on August 27, 2008
British Medical Bulletin 2008 87(1):97-130; doi:10.1093/bmb/ldn027
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
87/1/97    most recent
ldn027v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Danovi, S. A.
Right arrow Articles by Lemoine, N. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Danovi, S. A.
Right arrow Articles by Lemoine, N. R.
Related Collections
Right arrow Oncology
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Targeted therapies for pancreatic cancer

S. A. Danovi, H. H. Wong and N. R. Lemoine*

Centre for Molecular Oncology and Imaging, Institute of Cancer, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London, London, UK

* Correspondence to: Prof. N. R. Lemoine Centre for Molecular Oncology and Imaging Institute of Cancer, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry Queen Mary University of London Charterhouse Square London EC1M 6BQ, UK. E-mail: nick.lemoine{at}cancer.org.uk

Introduction: Pancreatic cancer is a devastating malignancy and a leading cause of cancer mortality. Furthermore, early diagnosis represents a serious hurdle for clinicians, as symptoms are non-specific and usually manifest in advanced, treatment-resistant stages of the disease.

Sources of data: Here, we review the rationale and progress of targeted therapies currently under investigation.

Areas of agreement: At present, chemoradiation regimes are administered palliatively, and produce only marginal survival benefits, underscoring a desperate need for more effective treatment modalities.

Areas of controversy: Questions have been raised as to whether erlotinib, the only targeted therapy to attain a statistically significant increase in median survival, is cost-effective.

Growing points: The last decade of research has provided us with a wealth of information regarding the molecular nature of pancreatic cancer, leading to the identification of signalling pathways and their respective components which are critical for the maintenance of the malignant phenotype.

Areas timely for developing research: These proteins thus represent ideal targets for novel molecular therapies which embody an urgently needed novel treatment strategy.

Keywords: pancreatic cancer • targeted therapy • novel therapy • clinical trials

Accepted for publication July 28, 2008.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.