**Molecular Targeting Therapy for Gastric Cancer: Current Advances and Obstacles**

Shouji Shimoyama

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69724

### **Abstract**

Although the incidence of gastric cancer (GC) has declined steadily in recent years, GC remains a major cancer burden. Multimodal therapies have been developed and first-line chemotherapy for advanced GC patients, even they have good performance status, could provide only modest efficacy. Furthermore, treatment outcomes after failure of first-line chemotherapy remain poor. In order to provide a solution to this unmet clinical need, since the management of various types of cancer has progressed rapidly into the molecular era, biomarker-targeted therapy for GC has received enormous attention in recent years. This review focuses on the current treatment achievement of molecular targeting agents for GC, such as trastuzumab, pertuzumab, trastuzumab emtansine, lapatinib, cetuximab, panitumumab, nimotuzumab, mammalian target of rapamycin, bevacizumab, ramucirumab, sunitinib, sorafenib, apatinib, rilotumumab, and onartuzumab. However, problems are also emerged with regard to resistance and refractoriness. This chapter also focuses on the current obstacles concerning resistance and refractoriness, as well as provides discussions concerning future directions with regard to molecular categorization to predict response and toxicities leading to select patients most likely to benefit.

**Keywords:** gastric cancer, molecular targeting therapy, human epidermal growth factor receptors, angiogenesis, resistance
