Targeting metastatic upper gastrointestinal adenocarcinomas

Table 1 Human epidermal growth factor receptor family inhibitors in upper gastrointestinal malignancies

Drug	Mechanism of action	Applicable tumor site(s)
Cetuximab	Intravenous IgG1 monoclonal antibody inhibiting the extracellular domain of EGFR thereby preventing receptor activation	Gastric
		Biliary tract
		Pancreas
Erlotinib	Oral intracellular small molecule selective EGFR TKI	Biliary tract
		Pancreas
Trastuzumab	Intravenous recombinant humanized anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody directed against the HER-2 extracellular domain	Gastric
Lapatinib	Oral TKI targeting EGFR and HER-2	Gastric

EGFR: Endothelial growth factor receptor; TKI: Tyrosine kinase inhibitor; HER: Human epidermal growth factor receptor.

Table 2 Antiangiogenic agents in upper gastrointestinal malignancies

Drug	Mechanism of action	Applicable tumor sites
Bevacizumab	Intravenous recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody against VEGF	Gastric
		Hepatocellular
		Biliary tract
		Pancreas
Sunitinib	Oral multitargeted TKI inhibiting VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, PDGFR-β, c-KIT, FLT3, and RET	Gastric
		Hepatocellular
Sorafenib	Oral multitargeted TKI inhibiting VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, PDGFR-β, Raf-1, B-Raf, and intracellular serine-threonine kinases	Gastric
		Hepatocellular
		Pancreas

VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGFR: Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor; TKI: Tyrosine kinase inhibitor; PDGFR: Platelet-derived growth factor receptors.