Despite the great progress in the treatment of
gastric cancer, it is still the third leading cause of
cancer death worldwide. Patients often miss the opportunity for a surgical cure, because the
cancer has already developed into advanced
cancer when identified. Compared to best supportive care,
chemotherapy can improve quality of life and prolong survival time, but the overall survival is often short. Due to the molecular study of
gastric cancer, new molecular targeted drugs have entered the clinical use.
Trastuzumab, an antibody targeting
human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), can significantly improve survival in advanced
gastric cancer patients with HER2 overexpression. Second-line treatment of advanced
gastric cancer with
ramucirumab, an antibody targeting
VEGFR-2, alone or in combination with
paclitaxel, has been proved to provide a beneficial effect. The
VEGFR-2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor,
apatinib, can improve the survival of advanced
gastric cancer patients after second-line
chemotherapy failure. Unfortunately, none of the EGFR targeting
antibodies (
cetuximab or
panitumumab),
VEGF targeting
monoclonal antibodies (
bevacizumab), mTOR inhibitor (
everolimus), or HGF/MET pathway targeting drugs has a significant survival benefit. Many other clinical trials based on molecular markers are underway. This review will summarize targeted
therapies for advanced
gastric cancer.