Reference

Bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy: first-line treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

All Rights Reserved. Bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy: first-line treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Hochster, Howard S. (Department of Medicine, New York University Cancer Institute, New York, NY, USA). Seminars in Oncology, 33(5, Suppl. 10), S8-S14 (English) 2006 Elsevier Inc. CODEN: SOLGAV. ISSN: 0093-7754. DOCUMENT TYPE: Journal; General Review CA Section: 15 (Immunochemistry) Section cross-reference(s): 1 A review. Bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody to vascular endothelial growth factor, was approved in 2004 for use in combination with i.v. 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. Bevacizumab is the first approved agent that targets tumor angiogenesis. The pivotal phase III trial showed significantly greater overall and progression-free survival with the addn. of bevacizumab to irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil, and leucovorin. These outcomes were obsd. irresp. of patients' pretreatment characteristics (age 365 years, 31 site of metastasis, or location of primary tumor). Furthermore, there was a significant survival benefit regardless of pretreatment biomarkers, including plasma vascular endothelial growth factor level, tumor thrombospondin and p53 expression, and mutational status in k-ras, b-raf, and p53. 61825-94-3 and 154361-50-9 which are cas registry numbers of chemicals are mentioned. Anal. of data in responders and nonresponders showed a response-independent survival benefit, indicating that even those in whom there was not an objective tumor response by std. criteria benefited from the addn. of bevacizumab. Preliminary data on the addn. of bevacizumab to oxaliplatin- and capecitabine-based regimens for the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer show that these regimens are well tolerated, with consistent increases in objective response rates, time to progression, and overall survival. The survival advantages in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with the addn. of bevacizumab to chemotherapy support the use of this agent in first-line treatment. .

Pancreatic cancer: a review of recent advances

All Rights Reserved. Pancreatic cancer: a review of recent advances. Eckel, Florian; Schneider, Guenter; Schmid, Roland M. (Department of Internal Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich 81675, Germany). Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs, 15(11), 1395-1410 (English) 2006 Informa Healthcare. CODEN: EOIDER. ISSN: 1354-3784. DOCUMENT TYPE: Journal; General Review CA Section: 1 (Pharmacology) Section cross-reference(s): 14 A review. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer-related death. Despite the advances of the mol. pathogenesis, pancreatic cancer remains a major unsolved health problem. Overall, the 5-yr survival rate is < 5% and only ~ 20% of the 10% of patients with resectable disease survive 5 years. 154361-50-9 and 58-05-9 are cas registry numbers of chemicals which are used as reagents here. Recently, the European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer 1 trial demonstrated substantially increased survival from adjuvant chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil-folinic acid and preliminary data showed prolonged disease-free survival from adjuvant gemcitabine. Current palliative therapeutic approaches mostly focused on evaluating chemotherapy regimens in which gemcitabine is combined with a second cytotoxic agent. Recently, large randomised trials of combinations of gemcitabine with either capecitabine or with erlotinib demonstrated prolonged survival and 1-yr survival rates of ~ 25%. The advance of mol. biol. has led to the elucidation of mol. events that are important for pancreatic carcinogenesis and has provided a foundation for the development of novel chemotherapeutic and biol. agents that appear to be promising and are likely to play a future role in the treatment of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. .