Prognosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is exceptionally poor because timely diagnosis in resectable stages is rare and there is no curative treatment for unresectable cases. Numerous researches to overcome these obstacles resulted in statistically significant but small progress. Recently two randomized controlled trial reported combination chemotherapy with 5-FU, irinotecan, leucovorin and oxaliplatin or Nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine was better survival than gemcitabine monotherapy. Many novel biological agents targeting the pancreatic cancer itself and surrounding micro-environment has been reported to be promising in preclinical investigations and phase 1/2 clinical studies. However, only erlotinib – a small molecular inhibitor of the epidermal growth factor receptor pathway – was approved for the targeted therapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer. In this review, we discuss briefly about recent advances in the combination chemotherapy and the targeted therapy including several complications related with these drugs.

• 이광혁(성균관대학교 삼성서울병원 내과학교실) | Kwang Hyuck Lee Corresponding author