Future directions in the treatment of pancreatic cancer

Fewer than 20% of patients with pancreatic cancer present with disease macroscopically confined to the pancreas, and approximately 40% already have locally advanced disease. Based on data from the Gastrointestinal Tumor Study Group, adjuvant therapy with radiation and 5-fluorouracil has become standard practice in the United States; however, in other countries, adjuvant treatment has not been as widely accepted. Other issues include the potential of neoadjuvant therapy and optimal systemic management. The issue of second-line therapy has also been raised in the treatment of pancreatic carcinoma, after the establishment of gemcitabine as a first-line standard treatment approach, in which it achieves a significant clinical benefit response. Other combination partners with gemcitabine under investigation include the antimetabolite 5-fluorouracil, the topoisomerase-I inhibitor irinotecan, the taxane docetaxel, the platinum oxaliplatin, the multitargeted antifolate pemetrexed, the farnesyl transferase inhibitor R-115777, the anti-HER2/neu antibody trastuzumab, and the epidermal growth factor inhibitor cetuximab. Combined-modality approaches with gemcitabine and radiation are also under active investigation.