REVIEW   

Minerva Chirurgica 2015 April;70(2):119-29

Copyright © 2015 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Looking into the “Garden of the Hesperides”: new drugs for hepatocellular carcinoma

Castañón Alvarez E. ^{1, 2}, Giallombardo M. ^{2, 3}, Gil-Bazo I. ¹, Papadimitriou K. ⁴, Pauwels P. ^{5, 6}, Peeters M. ^{4, 5}, Rolfo C. ^{2, 5} ✉

¹ Department of Oncology, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; ² Phase I‑Early Clinical Trials Unit, Oncology Department, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium; ³ Dipartimento di Biopatologia e Biotecnologie Mediche, Sezione di Biologia e Genetica, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy; ⁴ Oncology Department, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium; ⁵ Center of Oncological Research (CORE), Antwerp University, Wilrijk, Belgium; ⁶ Molecular Pathology Unit, Pathology Department, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium

Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma remains an entity that is hard to approach therapeutically and has shown disappointing results in terms of survival. For many years, the only accepted option for this setting was the use of a multikinase inhibitor, sorafenib. Nevertheless, through the years, a deeper knowledge has arisen about how pathogenic pathways correlate with hepatocellular carcinoma. In this review, we provide an update of the most recent data regarding new agents under investigation and new possible targets for future treatments.