State of the art biological therapies in pancreatic cancer

Table 2 Principal phase II clinical trials involving targeted therapy in pancreatic cancer

Agent	Target pathway	Treatment	Setting	n	Ref.
Cetuximab	EGFR signaling	GEM plus cisplatin plus cetuximab	M/LA		[16]
		vs		84
		GEM plus cisplatin
Gefitinib	EGFR signaling	GEM plus gefitinib	M/LA	57	[18]
		(single arm)
Trastuzumab	EGFR signaling	GEM plus trastuzumab	M/LA	34	[20]
		(single arm)	2+/3+ HER-2 expression
Trastuzumab	EGFR signaling	Capecitabine plus trastuzumab	M/LA	17	[21]
		(single arm)	3+ HER-2 expression or gene amplification	(212 screened)
Nimotuzumab	EGFR signaling	GEM plus nimotuzumab	M/LA	18	[23]
		(single arm)
Nimotuzumab	EGFR signaling	Nimotuzumab monotherapy	Refractory to first line standard chemotherapy M/LA	56	[24]
		(single arm)
Selumetinib	KRAS/MEK pathway	Capecitabine plus selumetinib	Refractory to first line standard chemotherapy M/LA	70	[31]
		vs Capecitabine
Trametinib	KRAS/MEK pathway	GEM plus trametinib	M/LA	160	[32]
		vs GEM plus P
Sorafenib	Angiogenesis	GEM plus sorafenib	M/LA	70	[40]
		(single arm)
RO4929097	Hedgehog signaling	RO4929097 monotherapy	Refractory to first line standard chemotherapy M	18	[57]
		(single arm)
Everolimus	mTOR pathway	Everolimus plus capecitabine	M/LA	31	[67]
		(single arm)

GEM: Gemcitabine; P: Placebo; n: Number of patients enrolled; LA: Locally advanced cancer; M: Metastatic cancer.