How Targeted Therapies Work To Fight Cancer

How Targeted Therapies are Effective on Cancer Cells

The targeted therapies obstruct the division of cancer cells by concentrating on proteins that play a role in the communication system that manages cell function. The therapies work by blocking communication to the cells that cause cancer to grow and helps stop their development.

Targeted cancer therapies can also be used to cause death of cancer cells by promoting apoptosis, a term that refers to cell death through a series of programmed events and plays a role in maintaining health by destroying unhealthy cells. Targeted therapies can also be used to help the body identify and kill off cancer cells by delivering deadly substances to the targeted cells. This process requires targeted cancer therapies to accurately identify particular targets that are known to contribute to growth and survival of cancer cells. Targeted therapies are known as treatments that originate from "rational drug design" because of these characteristics.

Development of Targeted Cancer Therapies

A targeted cancer therapy is produced after a "target" has been recognized. Many of these targeted cancer therapies are small-molecule drugs or monoclonal antibodies.

The primary difference between small-molecule drugs and monoclonal antibodies is that small-molecule drugs normally have the ability to disperse and take action against targets found within the cells. In contrast, monoclonal antibodies normally don't have the ability to break through the cell membrane so the targets identified are usually on the cell surface or are outside of the cells.

Targeted Therapy - Small-molecule drugs

Patients that undergo small-molecule drug therapy are normally accepted through drug screening tests. These tests look at the effects of several substances, as many as thousands, developed for a specific target. The results of these tests lead to selection of the most precise and effective drugs. Many of these drugs are then modified to develop several different versions of these substances.

Targeted Therapy - Monoclonal antibodies

When the monclonal antibodies procedure is used, it requires preparation that first involves the immunization of animals (mice) with target molecules. Several different kinds of antibodies that are produced within the animals' bodies can be used against the target. Spleen cells are collected from the animals and are fused with myeloma cells (abnormal plasma cells). These cells are cloned and produce cells that create a large number of monoclonal antibodies. The antibodies are tested to identify which ones respond best to the target.

Monoclonal antibodies have to be modified for humans before they can be used in treatment. This procedure, known as genetic engineering, entails the replacement of non-human parts of the molecules with human parts. This procedure is necessary so that the patient's immune system won't reject the monoclonal antibodies as foreign objects. This is important because the body could otherwise destroy them before they can respond to the target molecules.

Impact of Targeted Therapies

Targeted cancer therapies have given the medical establishment an improved method of treating cancer. This is particularly true in cases where a "target" can be identified in some tumors of a certain type, but not all. The forecast for targeted therapies may be that treatments will have the ability to be individualized for a patient's tumor. It also improves the chances of using more focused therapy that allows it to be administered only to cancer cells, thus decreasing the chances of harming healthy cells. Other benefits include reduced side effects and an improved quality of life.

Although there are positive results, the therapies may have some negative effects. One of the matters of most concern is the possibility of cells to develop a resistance against the therapies.

This has been the outcome in some cases where genes have developed that change protein characteristics and make it more difficult for them to bind with drugs. These types of results may suggest that target therapies may have more favorable outcomes when used in conjunction with traditional cancer treatments or other targeted therapies.

Sources for information on this page: National Cancer Institute, Oncolink, Medterms.com, Curetoday.com

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