Molecular targeted therapy in gastrointestinal cancer

Gastrointestinal cancer is one of the highly prevalent malignant diseases worldwide which is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality in the world and its management, especially in advanced stages, has evolved relatively little[1]. Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains the third most common malignancy and the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide[2]. The surgical treatment is still the most effective therapy for the gastrointestinal cancer. However, the majority of the patients had lost the opporunity of surgical therapy when it was detected at advanced stage, so to seek means other than surgical treatment of gastrointestinal cancer metastasis and recurrence also has an important significance. With the deeping research of the molecular biology, molecular targeted therapy has become the hotspot and focus of comprehensive treatment of gastrointestinal cancer which is proposed against the molecular biological targets such as tumor cell growth, apoptosis, cell cycle, invasion and angiogenesis. Molecular targeted therapy can be grouped into six main areas: the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors, anti-angiogenic factors, cell cycle inhibitors, apoptosis promoters and matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors, cyclooxygenase inhibitors. The review of the progress are as follows.