Pancreatic cancer: treatment approaches and trends

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most challenging diseases due to its often late diagnose which results in limited therapeutic options and poor prognosis. To date, the only curative treatment is complete tumor removal surgery but only a few patients are eligible to do it. The median survival period after surgery followed by chemotherapy adjuvant treatment is about 2 years. Since its approval by the FDA, Gemcitabine has become the first-line chemotherapy agent for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer. The FOLFIRINOX regimen is also used as a treatment scheme for pancreatic cancer; however, this regimen has resulted in small improvements in overall patient’s survival. It is appropriated to clarify that the FOLFIRINOX regimen can only be administered in patients with good performance status. Due to the absence of outstanding result after patient’s treatment with diverse chemotherapeutic agents combinations or unsuccessful administration of single-agent drugs to treat pancreatic cancer, the immunotherapy has become a new hope. A more comprehensive understanding of cancer microenvironment and the chemical communication between cancer cells and immune cells can result in new therapeutic approaches that will improve the elimination of pancreatic cancer cells, enhancing life quality for these patients and increasing the overall survival.

Keywords

Pancreatic cancer / chemotherapy / gemcitabine / immunotherapy

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