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Anti-EGFR Therapy in Gallbladder Cancer

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Gallbladder Cancer

Abstract

The median overall survival in an advanced or metastatic gallbladder cancer (GBC) is less than a year. Attempts have been made to find various drugs to improve survival in these patients but so far the results are far from clinics. Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is one of the receptors which is expressed in biliary tract cancers (BTCs), including gallbladder cancer (GBC). Various drugs targeting EGFR, i.e. Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) and Monoclonal Antibodies (MABs), have been tried, mostly in combination with chemotherapy drugs since last decade with limited clinically meaningful outcomes. The previous studies on EGFR inhibitors have been disappointing but some of the new studies are ongoing which may throw some light in this dark tunnel. This chapter aims to provide an outline of anti-EGFR drugs tested in advanced/metastatic BTCs, including GBCs along with the summary of various clinical trials done and the new ones proposed on anti-EGFR drugs in this disease setting.

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Bains, L., Chawla, T. (2023). Anti-EGFR Therapy in Gallbladder Cancer. In: Kumar Shukla, V., Pandey, M., Dixit, R. (eds) Gallbladder Cancer. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6442-8_18

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