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Aflibercept—a Decoy VEGF Receptor

  • Evolving Therapies (R Bukowski, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Aflibercept (known as ziv-aflibercept in the USA and sold under the trade name Zaltrap®) is a human recombinant fusion protein with antiangiogenic effects that functions as a decoy receptor to bind vascular endothelial growth factors A and B and placental growth factor. Its unique mechanism of action with respect to other agents targeting angiogenesis led investigators to speculate that it may be more ubiquitously efficacious in tumors highly dependent on pathologic angiogenesis for their growth. Despite encouraging preclinical studies in various tumor types, aflibercept has not been proven efficacious in most later-phase clinical studies. In fact, its only currently held US Food and Drug Administration indication is in metastatic colorectal cancer in combination with 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, and irinotecan for those patients previously treated with an oxaliplatin-containing chemotherapy regimen. Given aflibercept’s toxicity profile and cost, further investigation is needed to better understand its mechanism of action and to discover predictive biomarkers for optimization of its appropriate use in treatment of cancer patients.

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Conflict of Interest

Kristen K. Ciombor has served as a consultant for Bayer, has received travel/accommodation expenses reimbursed by Bayer, and has received honoraria from Clinical Advances in Hematology and Oncology.

Jordan Berlin has served on the Scientific Advisory Board of Amgen and on the Advisory Board of Genentech/Roche.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, A445A Starling Loving Hall, 320 West 10th Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Kristen K. Ciombor

  2. Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, 777 Preston Research Building, 2220 Pierce Avenue, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA

    Jordan Berlin

Authors
  1. Kristen K. Ciombor
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  2. Jordan Berlin
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Correspondence to Jordan Berlin.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Evolving Therapies

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Ciombor, K.K., Berlin, J. Aflibercept—a Decoy VEGF Receptor. Curr Oncol Rep 16, 368 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-013-0368-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-013-0368-7

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