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Gastrointestinal Cancer

Activation of Growth Factor Receptors in Esophageal Cancer—Implications for Therapy

^aDepartment of Oncology, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden; ^bLudwig Institute for Cancer Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

Key Words. Esophageal squamous cancer • Targeted therapy • Growth factor receptors • Esophageal adenocarcinoma

Correspondence: Simon Ekman, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Oncology, Uppsala University Hospital, S-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden. Telephone: 46-18-611-2259; Fax: 46-18-611-5528; e-mail: Simon.Ekman{at}onkologi.uu.se

Disclosure: No potential conflicts of interest were reported by the authors, planners, reviewers, or staff managers of this article.

Esophageal cancer is a highly aggressive disease and is the seventh most common cause of cancer-related death in the western world. Worldwide, it ranks as the sixth most frequent cause of cancer death. Despite advances in surgical techniques and treatment, the prognosis of esophageal cancer remains poor, with very few long-term survivors. The need for novel strategies to detect esophageal cancer earlier and to improve current therapy is urgent.

It is well established that growth factors and growth factor receptor–mediated signaling pathways are important components of the transformation process in many forms of cancer, including esophageal cancer. With the recent advances in drug development, there are emerging possibilities to use growth factor signal transduction pathways in targeted therapy. This review provides a summary of the role of growth factors and their receptors in esophageal cancer and discusses their potential roles as biomarkers and as targets in therapy.

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