Pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenomics in gastric cancer chemotherapy

Despite extensive efforts, treatment of gastric cancer by chemotherapy, the globally accepted standard, is yet undetermined, and uncertainty remains regarding the optimal regimen. Recent introduction of active “new generation agents” offers hope for improving patient outcomes. Current chemotherapeutic trials provided several regimens that may become a possible standard treatment, including docetaxel/cisplatin/5-FU (TCF) and cisplatin/S-1 for advanced and metastatic cancer and S-1 monotherapy in the adjuvant setting. Along with the development of novel active regimens, individual optimization of cancer chemotherapy has been attempted in order to reduce toxicity and enhance tumor response. Unlike the rare and limited contribution of pharmacokinetic studies, pharmacogenomic studies are increasing the potential to realize the therapeutics against gastric cancer. Despite the limited data, pharmacogenomics in gastric cancer have provided a number of putative biomarkers for the prediction of tumor response to chemotherapies and of toxicity.