SY5-3 - Characteristics of Skin Disorders Caused by Molecularly Targeted Agents and Management of the Symptoms

Abstract

Because molecularly targeted therapeutic agents, many of which have been developed in recent years, possess cancer-type specificity and have a specific action on their target molecule, they have been expected to have both a high antitumor effect and low toxicity for normal cells. In reality, adverse effects that are considerably different from those of conventional cytotoxic anticancer drugs have been reported.In particular, because epidermal basal cells, skin appendages, nail matrices, etc., also appear to become targets of EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) tyrosine kinase inhibitors and anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies, which target human EGFRs, such high incidences of skin symptoms have been reported that they could almost be said to be inevitable. In typical cases, the skin symptoms of these EGFR inhibitors, which are used to treat non-small cell lung cancer, colonic cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, head and neck cancers, etc., are characterized by the development of acneform eruptions at first and then by dry skin, and they are often accompanied by itching, and the xerosis cutis and paronychia that develop subsequently recur repeatedly over a prolonged period.Hand-foot syndrome develops in a majority of patients treated with multikinase inhibitors, including sorafenib, sunitinib, and regorafenib, and there is a racial difference in its occurrence, with hand-foot syndrome being more common in Asians.Thus, although these skin symptoms are hardly ever life-threatening, proper symptom management tailored to the situation is important in order to continue cancer treatment.