Targeted Therapy
The development of targeted therapy represents an exciting new approach to cancer treatment. A small number of these drugs have already been FDA approved, a number are currently in clinical trials.
Perhaps the most promising theme in the development of more specific
cancer drugs is the targeting of cancer-specific processes, instead of processes common to all cells.
Because these drugs are not directly toxic, and because they only affect
cancer cells, they offer the hope of being highly
specific with few side effects.
The specificity of current drugs does
have one drawback. Blocking a single pathway in a cancer cell
may be enough to slow it down, but it often does not inhibit the cancer
enough to kill it. Therefore, many specific cancer
drugs are currently being used together with traditional chemotherapy. The combination
of a highly specific cancer drug that is able to attack a tumor's weaknesses, and
standard chemotherapy to deliver a powerful attack on the tumor, may prove
to be an excellent means of treating cancer. This chapter will offer some
examples of new drugs that are being developed to target cancer-specific
processes and spare normal cells.
Learn more about the differences between chemotherapy and targeted cancer drugs
Types of Targeted Therapy:
- Antisense Oligonucleotides
- Ribozymes
- Drugs that Affect Molecular Receptors
- Angiogenesis Inhibitors
- Histone Deacytlase Inhibitors
- Kinase Inhibitors
- Enzyme Activators
- Proteasomes
- Glossary of Targeted Therapy
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