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Kiyozumi et al. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2018;4:31 Journal of Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2017.77 Metastasis and Treatment

Review Open Access

Update on targeted therapy and immune therapy for
gastric cancer, 2018

Yuki Kiyozumi, Masaaki Iwatsuki, Kohei Yamashita, Yuki Koga, Naoya Yoshida, Hideo Baba

Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Kumamoto University, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto 860-
8556, Japan.
Correspondence to: Dr. Hideo Baba, Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Kumamoto University, Graduate School of
Medical Sciences, 1-1-1 Honjo, Kumamoto 860-8556, Japan. E-mail: hdobaba@kumamoto-u.ac.jp

How to cite this article: Kiyozumi Y, Iwatsuki M, Yamashita K, Koga Y, Yoshida N, Baba H. Update on targeted therapy and
immune therapy for gastric cancer, 2018. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2018;4:31. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2017.77

Received: 21 Nov 2017 First Decision: 5 Feb 2018 Revised: 13 Feb 2018 Accepted: 6 Jun 2018 Published: 28 Jun 2018

Science Editors: Masayuki Watanabe, Lucio Miele Copy Editor: Jun-Yao Li Production Editor: Cai-Hong Wang

Abstract
Gastric cancer (GC) remains one of the most common cancers and serious health problems worldwide. For unresectable
or metastatic advanced gastric cancer, chemotherapy treatment is first selected. Although chemotherapy has improved
survival in patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC), the prognosis of these patients remains poor. In recent years,
some therapies targeting biological molecules have been reported to prolong the survival of patients with AGC. Since
trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody that targets HER2, was established as standard therapy for unresectable GC in
a HER2-positive patient, many other targets have been reported as new therapy targets. Many molecular targeted
therapies, such as HER2, VEGFR or EGFR, have been verified as established standard treatments with or without
chemotherapy in clinical trials. Furthermore, immunotherapy is expected to be an effective treatment with promising
clinical trial data. Especially, immune checkpoint inhibiters, such as PD-1/PD-L1 or CTLA-4, have demonstrated
innovative progression in GC therapy. Moreover, ongoing clinical trials including targeted therapy and immunotherapy
have shown promising results in improving clinical outcomes, safety, and tolerability. In this article, we review targeting
therapies and immunotherapies for GC and summarize future prospective treatments.

Keywords: Gastric cancer, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitor

INTRODUCTION
Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common cancers and the third-leading cause of cancer-associated
deaths worldwide, especially in East Asia. Almost one million new cases (952,000 cases in 2012) have been
estimated to occur annually . In early GC, radical surgery with or without perioperative chemotherapy
[1]
© The Author(s) 2018. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
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