Abstract

CASACO PARADA, Ángel R  and  FERNANDEZ LORENTE, Aymara. Effects of the blockade of EGF/EGFR system on wound healing cancer patients. Rev Cubana Farm [online]. 2014, vol.48, n.4, pp. 684-700. ISSN 1561-2988.

The use of blocking drugs for epidermal growth factor and its receptor system has shown beneficial effects in patients with solid tumors of epithelial origin. It is increasingly common to use a multi-modal treatment approach towards solid tumors, often including the association of target agents and surgical resection. Some target agents can impair wound healing or cause increasing risk of perioperative complications if they block system pathways that may intervene in wound healing. The objective of this paper was to review and comment on the existing knowledge about the relationship between the use of anti-EGF/EGFR drugs and the disorders in wound healing. Citations from PubMed and Google (English and Spanish languages only) regardless of the date of publication were reviewed to identify potentially useful articles until January 2014. Monoclonal antibodies cetuximab, panitumumab, nimotuzumab; the small molecules erlotinib and gefitinib, and the therapeutic cancer vaccines called CIMAvax EGF and HER-1. Special emphasis was made on biopharmaceuticals nimotuzumab, CIMAvax EGF and HER-1, all of them produced at the Center of Molecular Immunology, Havana, Cuba, because of their extensive use in Cuba and many Latin-American countries. No evidence of association between the use of these products and the occurrence of complications in wound healing was found. Given that the anti-EGF/EGFR treatments also inhibit the tumor cell proliferation that wound drainage induces and the radiation-induced cell migration, it is suggested that that the administration of this kind of drugs should be kept before and after the surgery and consequently, its possible effects must be under surveillance. Obviously, non-clinical and clinical pharmacologists, clinical oncologists and surgeons need further researches for better understanding the pathophysiological wound healing processes in epithelial cancers.

Keywords : monoclonal antibodies; cancer vaccines; wound healing; nimotuzumab; CIMAvax EGF; HER-1 vaccine; cetuximab; erlotinib; gefitinib; panitumumab.

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