Targeted therapy
Drugs designed to hit a specific molecule the cancer depends on, usually a protein made by a mutated or amplified gene, while leaving normal cells relatively alone. The tumour is tested first to see whether it carries the target.
Targeted therapies are mostly small-molecule inhibitors (kinase inhibitors such as imatinib, osimertinib, sotorasib; PARP and CDK4/6 inhibitors) and antibodies (trastuzumab, cetuximab), and are given to patients whose tumours have the matching alteration, identified by genomic profiling or immunohistochemistry. When a tumour is truly dependent on the target (oncogene addiction) responses can be dramatic and side effects milder than chemotherapy, though the effects are rarely permanent because resistance evolves, and each new generation of drug is built to overcome the last generation's escape mutations. 'Precision oncology' is the broader programme of matching every patient to the right drug by testing; only a minority of tumours have an actionable target today.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- TermOncogene
Shares Driver mutation, Growth signal, Kinase, Oncogene addiction.
- TermHallmark: sustaining proliferative signalling
Shares Growth signal, Oncogene addiction, KRAS & RAS inhibitors, Monoclonal antibodies.
- TermDownstream and upstream
Shares Growth signal, Kinase, Drug resistance (primary and acquired).
- TermBiopsy
Shares Biomarker, Genomic profiling, Comprehensive genomic profiling.
- TermSignalling pathway
Shares Growth signal, Kinase, Drug resistance (primary and acquired).
- TermCell cycle
Shares Chemotherapy, Kinase, CDK4/6 inhibitors.
- TermReceptor
Shares Growth signal, Hormone therapy, Kinase.
- TermEnzyme