TARGETED THERAPY TO THE RESCUE?

-Biswadeep Sen, Amity University Kolkata

Lung cancer has troubled scientists for decades now. But with the passing of each decade, a newer method of its detection and treatment has emerged. Now as we set foot onto the second decade of the 21^st century, we are successful in treating selective targets of the NSCLC.

Mutant EGFR  is the oncogenic target that is most relevant in NSCLC. Trials that use the combination of EFRF inhibitors and chemotherapy drugs are showing promising results.

ALK, a member of the superfamily insulin receptor, is of paramount importance when it comes to the development of the CNS.AKF translocations are found in some of the NSCLC patients, leading to CBS metastasis. Therefore the intracranial activity of its inhibitor(alectinib)  is of valuable importance

Similar to ALK,  an aberration of its family’s member ROS1 leads to cell proliferation. Luckily we have crizotinib and entrectinib to provide for the necessary mitigation.

An important player responsible for the encoding of 3 transmembrane proteins ( TrkA, B, C) is the NTRK Genes. A change in their confirmation results in the activation of many downstream signalling pathways, influencing tumour proliferation. Incidentally, a highly selective TRK inhibitor, Larotrectinib, is showing a remarkable response, mitigation the same.

Source:

Authors: Cui, Hongmei; Arnst, Kinsie; Miller, Duane D.; Li, Wei

Source: Current Medicinal Chemistry

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2174/0929867326666191016113631