The role of oxaliplatin in the management of upper gastrointestinal tract malignancies

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials on the role of targeted therapy in the management of advanced gastric cancer: Evidence does not translate?

It is still uncertain if targeted therapy-based regimens in advanced gastric cancer actually produce survival benefit. To shed light on this important question, we performed a systematic review and meta-analyses on each relevant targeted-pathway. By searching literature databases and proceedings of major cancer meetings in the time-frame 2005-2014, 22 randomized clinical trials exploring targeted therapy for a total of 7022 advanced gastric cancer patients were selected and included in the final analysis. Benefit was demonstrated for antiangiogenic agents in terms of overall survival (HR 0.759; 95%CI 0.655-0.880; p < 0.001). Conversely no benefit was found for EGFR pathway (HR 1.077; 95%CI 0.847-1.370; p = 0.543). Meta-analysis of HER-2 pathway confirmed improvement in terms of survival outcome, already known for this class of drugs (HR 0.823; 95%CI 0.722-0.939; p = 0.004). Pooled analysis demonstrated a significant survival benefit (OS: HR 0.823; PFS: HR 0.762) with acceptable tolerability profile for targeted-based therapies as compared to conventional treatments. This finding conflicts with the outcome of most individual studies, probably due to poor trial design or patients selection. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate a significant survival benefit for targeted therapy in its whole, which can be ascribed to anti-angiogenic and anti-HER2 agents.

The emerging role of oxaliplatin in the treatment of gastric cancer

Gastric cancer is often diagnosed in locally advanced or metastatic stages and, therefore, of poor prognosis. Many controversies exist about surgery, neoadjuvant, adjuvant and palliative treatments of gastric cancer. So we need to explore a variety of novel management options including the use of new agents and new combinations. Some of these agents include oral fluoropyrimidine, irinotecan, docetaxel and oxaliplatin. Oxaliplatin is a diaminocyclohexane-platinum compound that is significantly different from cisplatin and carboplatin with respect to its activity and toxicity. Oxaliplatin is an alkylating agent inhibiting DNA replication by forming adducts between two adjacent guanines or guanine and adenine molecules. However, the adducts of oxaliplatin appear to be more effective than cisplatin adducts in regard to the inhibition of DNA synthesis. In contrast to cisplatin, oxaliplatin has demonstrated efficacy alone and in combination with 5-fluorouracil in advanced colorectal cancer. Many studies are ongoing to test the combination in noncolorectal gastrointestinal tumors and other malignancies. This review focuses on the increasing amount of data concerning the clinical activity of oxaliplatin-based regimens in advanced gastric cancer.