© 2006 European Society for Medical Oncology
symposium article |
Interaction between the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathways: a rational approach for multi-target anticancer therapy
1 Cattedra di Oncologia Medica, Dipartimento Medico-Chirurgico di Internistica Clinica e Sperimentale ‘F. Magrassi e A. Lanzara’, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Naples; 2 Dipartimento di Endocrinologia e Oncologia Molecolare, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy
* Correspondence to: F. Ciardiello, Cattedra di Oncologia Medica, Dipartimento Medico-Chirurgico di Internistica Clinica e Sperimentale ‘F. Magrassi e A. Zanzara’, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy. Tel: +39-0815666745; Fax: +39-0815666728; E-mail: fortunato.ciardiello{at}unina2.it
Over the last decade, the concept of targeted biological therapy for the treatment of cancer has emerged. However, a better understanding of these targets and their role in tumor cells and in the surrounding stromal cells is required. Two interesting biological targets are the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the vascular endothelia growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors. A number of agents that target these pathways have been described. Many of these are currently in clinical trials and a few have recently been approved by the regulatory authorities in USA and in the European Union. The molecular pathways involved in the proliferation of cancer cells and in tumor-related angiogenesis are very complex and the interference with only a single step of these pathways may often reveal an insufficient therapeutic approach. Moreover, cancer cells have an inherent ability to harness different growth factor signaling pathways for growth advantage and cell survival, a process that may even be facilitated by the use of selective targeted agents. Because of these escape mechanisms, monotherapy with selective targeted agents is unlikely to be a fully effective cancer treatment. For these reasons, targeting different pathways is an attractive and effective therapeutic strategy with a strong rationale for investigating this approach in the clinic. This review focuses on the preclinical rationale of combining targeted agents such as EGFR and VEGF inhibitors in the treatment of cancer and on the clinical trials that have emerged from these studies.
Key words: combination therapy, EGFR, VEGF, small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  N. Starling, D. Watkins, D. Cunningham, J. Thomas, J. Webb, G. Brown, K. Thomas, J. Oates, and I. Chau Dose Finding and Early Efficacy Study of Gemcitabine Plus Capecitabine in Combination With Bevacizumab Plus Erlotinib in Advanced Pancreatic Cancer J. Clin. Oncol., November 20, 2009; 27(33): 5499 - 5505. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. de Boer, Y. Humblet, J. Wolf, L. Nogova, K. Ruffert, T. Milenkova, R. Smith, A. Godwood, and J. Vansteenkiste An open-label study of vandetanib with pemetrexed in patients with previously treated non-small-cell lung cancer Ann. Onc., March 1, 2009; 20(3): 486 - 491. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. J. VanMeter, A. S. Rodriguez, E. D. Bowman, J. Jen, C. C. Harris, J. Deng, V. S. Calvert, A. Silvestri, C. Fredolini, V. Chandhoke, et al. Laser Capture Microdissection and Protein Microarray Analysis of Human Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: Differential Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGPR) Phosphorylation Events Associated with Mutated EGFR Compared with Wild Type Mol. Cell. Proteomics, October 1, 2008; 7(10): 1902 - 1924. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B. M. Tijink, T. Laeremans, M. Budde, M. S.-v. Walsum, T. Dreier, H. J. de Haard, C. R. Leemans, and G. A.M.S. van Dongen Improved tumor targeting of anti-epidermal growth factor receptor Nanobodies through albumin binding: taking advantage of modular Nanobody technology Mol. Cancer Ther., August 1, 2008; 7(8): 2288 - 2297. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. V. Heymach, B. E. Johnson, D. Prager, E. Csada, J. Roubec, M. Pesek, I. Spasova, C. P. Belani, I. Bodrogi, S. Gadgeel, et al. Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Phase II Study of Vandetanib Plus Docetaxel in Previously Treated Non Small-Cell Lung Cancer J. Clin. Oncol., September 20, 2007; 25(27): 4270 - 4277. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|