Gastric cancer - Molecular and clinical dimensions

Gastric cancer imposes a considerable health burden around the globe despite its declining incidence. The disease is often diagnosed in advanced stages and is associated with a poor prognosis for patients. An in-depth understanding of the molecular underpinnings of gastric cancer has lagged behind many other cancers of similar incidence and morbidity, owing to our limited knowledge of germline susceptibility traits for risk and somatic drivers of progression (to identify novel therapeutic targets). A few germline (PLCE1) and somatic (ERBB2, ERBB3, PTEN, PI3K/AKT/mTOR, FGF, TP53, CDH1 and MET) alterations are emerging and some are being pursued clinically. Novel somatic gene targets (ARID1A, FAT4, MLL and KMT2C) have also been identified and are of interest. Variations in the therapeutic approaches dependent on geographical region are evident for localized gastric cancer - differences that are driven by preferences for the adjuvant strategies and the extent of surgery coupled with philosophical divides. However, greater uniformity in approach has been noted in the metastatic cancer setting, an incurable condition. Having realized only modest successes, momentum is building for carrying out more phase III comparative trials, with some using biomarker-based patient selection strategies. Overall, rapid progress in biotechnology is improving our molecular understanding and can help with new drug discovery. The future prospects are excellent for defining biomarker-based subsets of patients and application of specific therapeutics. However, many challenges remain to be tackled. Here, we review representative molecular and clinical dimensions of gastric cancer.