Targeted Therapy Cancer Treatment

We have had limited success in fighting cancer. There are several reasons for this. Targeted therapy is a way to increase that level of success as it refers to the killing of cancer cells while at the same time maintain the heath of nearby healthy cells.

Targeted therapy is a generic term referring to medication or agents that go through a specific pathway without disrupting other cell functionalities. They target the pathways involved in development of the tumor and thus indirectly reduce the tumor.

The names of targeted therapies include words like inhibitor, anti together with the target name. If the drug blocks, it is called anti-target.

The main type of targeted therapy classification is Tyrosine kinase receptor inhibitors.

All reactions essential to a tumors growth and survival are focused on by targeted therapy and these are stopped. One family of the tyrosine kinase receptors is called the HER family, or the human epidermal factor family.

Within EFGR inhibitors, lie two types of inhibitors which are small body and antibody inhibitors. There is also a class of targeted drug called angiogenesis inhibitors.

Like healthy cells, tumor cells need an adequate supply of blood to survive to perform important cell functions and to survive. This vessel formation is called angiogenesis, which are choked by angiogenesis inhibitors. The proteins assisting this process are also destroyed called proangiogenic factors.

Proteasome inhibitors help in blocking cell growth factors such as NF-kappa-B, a protein found in healthy as well as tumor cells. While typically inactive, because it is bound to another natural inhibitor called the kappa B (l-kappa-B)-alpha, it becomes active during a tumor. Synthesis of the inhibitor results in blockage of growth factors.

Targeted therapies are specific to targets and bind to block them. They disrupt the chain leading to formation of a tumor and also the development of a tumor. They do not allow cell proliferation. Targeted immunotherapy signals also exist which bind to increase the immune functioning rather than bind with growth signals. By binding to antigens, or protein suppressors, targeted immunotherapy on the surface of the cancer can cause intense anti-tumor reactions in the human body.

This leads to the death of a tumor. If these drugs are chemically attached to radiological origins, they launch a two-faced attack on the tumor. This has an advantage of both anti tumor radiation and anti tumor immune response.

These drugs are usually a collection of monoclonal antibodies, which mostly all have different targets. These are named depending on the antigen they bind to, for example the drug binding to the antigen CD20 is called anti-CD20.