Preliminary experience of cetuximab in the treatment of advanced-stage biliary tract cancer.

BACKGROUND

Cetuximab has been proved to be effective alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of various malignancies. The aim of this report was to describe our experience of using cetuximab with chemotherapeutics agents to treat advanced-stage biliary tract cancer.

CASE REPORTS

We retrospectively analyzed the outcomes of 5 biliary tract cancer patients receiving cetuximab-containing therapy. Four of them had stage IV disease, and 1 patient had incomplete resection at the time of diagnosis. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and K-ras status were assessed when a specimen was available. After cetuximab treatment, complete response was achieved in 1 patient, partial response in 3 patients, and stable disease in 1 patient. Three surgical specimens were available, and all revealed positive EGFR expression. Only 1 surgical specimen was adequate for K-ras mutation test, and the wild type was confirmed. Complete response was found in the patient who had wild type K-ras. The progression-free survival of these patients varied from 4 to 16 months.

CONCLUSIONS

Cetuximab-containing therapy might be an effective treatment for advanced biliary tract cancer.