Angel Casacó, Dasha Fuente, Nuris Ledón, Aymara Fernández and Tania Crombet
Cutaneous wound healing is a complex process involving blood clotting, inflammation, tissue formation, and tissue remodeling. Many experimental and clinical studies have demonstrated varied, but in most cases beneficial, effects of exogenous growth factors on the healing process. The use of targeted anti-cancer agents is increasing. It is common to utilize a multi-modal treatment approach towards solid tumors, often including surgical resection, and it has become apparent that some targeted agents can impair wound healing or cause increasing risk of perioperative complications. There are limited data regarding the wound healing process of anti-cancer target drugs blocking the EGF/EGFR system. The aim of this paper is to review and to comment the effects of anti- EGF/EGFR drugs on the skin wound healing process after programmed or emergency surgical procedures. A review of the current literature, including our own results, was undertaken. We included the monoclonal antibodies cetuximab, panitumumab, nimotuzumab; the small tyrosine kinase molecules erlotinib and gefitinib; and the EGFbased cancer vaccine; CIMAvax and the EGFR-based cancer vaccine; HER-1 vaccine. Apparently, there are no deleterious effects of the anti-EGF/EGFR drugs in the wound healing post-operative process. Taking into account that treatment with anti-EGF/EGFR drugs inhibits tumor cell proliferation, and the lack of deleterious effects of these EGF/EGFR specific inhibitors in the wound healing post-operative process; we suggest that these kinds of drugs could be maintained and their effects tested, with very special surveillance during the post-surgical period.
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