A randomized phase III trial that assessed treatment with cisplatin plus gemcitabine or gemcitabine alone for patients with advanced biliary tract cancer has provided evidence for a new standard treatment option for these patients. The therapeutic outcome (that is, overall survival, disease-free survival, and disease control rate), was significantly better in the combination arm with no increase in toxic effects.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Glimelius, B. et al. Chemotherapy improves survival and quality of life in advanced pancreatic and biliary cancer. Ann. Oncol. 7, 593–600 (1996).
Eckel, F. & Schmid, R. M. Chemotherapy in advanced biliary tract adenocarcinoma: a pooled analysis of clinical trials. Br. J. Cancer 96, 896–902 (2007).
Valle, J. et al. Cisplatin plus gemcitabine versus gemcitabine for biliary tract cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 362, 1273–1281 (2010).
Bergman, A. M. et al. Synergistic interaction between cisplatin and gemcitabine in vitro. Clin. Cancer Res. 2, 521–530 (1996).
Crino, L. et al. Cisplatin-gemcitabine combination in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a phase II study. J. Clin. Oncol. 15, 297–303 (1997).
Hitt, R. et al. Phase II trial of cisplatin and gemcitabine in advanced squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Ann. Oncol. 9, 1347–1349 (1998).
Furuse, J. et al. A randomized study of gemcitabine/cisplatin versus single-agent gemcitabine in patients with biliary tract cancer [abstract]. J. Clin. Oncol. 27 (Suppl. 15s), 4579 (2009).
Hansel, D. E. et al. Identification of novel cellular targets in biliary tract cancers using global gene expression technology. Am. J. Pathol. 163, 217–229 (2003).
Tannapfel, A. et al. Mutations of the BRAF gene in cholangiocarcinoma but not in hepatocellular carcinoma. Gut 52, 706–712 (2003).
Van Cutsem, E. et al. Molecular markers and biological targeted therapies in metastatic colorectal cancer: expert opinion and recommendations derived from the 11th ESMO/World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer, Barcelona, 2009. Ann. Oncol. 21 (Suppl. 6), vi1–vi10 (2010).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Scheithauer, W. Gemcitabine alone or plus cisplatin for biliary tract cancer?. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 7, 554–555 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2010.130
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2010.130