Pancreatic Cancer: Progress in Systemic Therapy.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the Western world. Due to lack of specific symptoms and no accessible precursor lesions, primary diagnosis is commonly delayed, resulting in the identification of only 15-20% of patients with potentially curable disease. The major limiting factor is an already locally advanced or metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis. Consequently, systemic therapy forms the backbone of treatment strategy for the majority of patients.
SUMMARY: A deeper understanding of the molecular characteristics of pancreatic cancer has led to the identification of several potential therapeutic targets. A variety of targeted therapies are currently under clinical evaluation as single agents or in combination with chemotherapy for PDAC. This review highlights the current state of chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer and provides an outlook on its future perspectives. KEY MESSAGE: This review focuses on the current chemotherapy regimens for the systemic treatment of PDAC. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Various neoadjuvant approaches have been explored, including chemoradiation, chemotherapy followed by chemoradiation or intensified chemotherapy without defining a standard of care so far. The standard of care is gemcitabine or 5-fluorouracil. The oral fluoropyrimidine S-1 may be a promising new agent in this setting. For first-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer, no targeted therapy has yet demonstrated clinical benefit apart from the combination of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib plus gemcitabine. Recently, novel chemotherapeutic regimens such as FOLFIRINOX and gemcitabine plus nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel have been introduced. Both combinations have proved to be superior to the standard gemcitabine regimen. For second-line treatment the combination of 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin and oxaliplatin yields improved results compared to best supportive care.