Gastric cancer (GC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death world-wide. Despite improvements in prevention, early detection and various therapeutic options, the prognosis is still poor. GC is often diagnosed at an advanced stage with survivals less than 1 year. Chemotherapy as the mainstay of treatment in advanced stage is not of notable advantages, underlining the need for novel more effective therapeutic options. Based on current knowledge of molecular and cellular mechanisms, a number of novel biologic approaches such as monoclonal antibodies have been recently introduced for cancer treatment that mainly affect the immune system or target signaling pathways playing role in cancer and metastasis development. In this review, various monoclonal antibodies for GC therapy were explained.
Keywords: CTLA-4 blockade; PD-1 and PD-L1 blockade; anti-EGFR mAbs; anti-Her2 mAbs; anti-VEGF mAbs; checkpoint inhibitors; gastric cancer; mAbs; pembrolizumab; trastuzumab.