A new class of anti-cancer drugs

Cancer remains one of the most common and terrible. The number of cancer patients, as well as the number of deaths are not reduced. Every year, cancer kills about 350 thousand people. In the past year, the number of cancer patients has reached 2, 32 mln. People. In addition, each year in Russia registered about 460 thousand cancer patients.

But the science continued to evolve constantly. Almost every day new technologies are implemented treatment and drugs. Since the 90s of the last century with a very high intensity of the work to establish the antitumor effect of drugs.

At the turn of XX and XXI century developed the first antineoplastic agents Who work at the molecular level, they are the targets of the mechanisms of action of tumor growth, the mechanisms responsible for the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) and the programmed process of cell death (apoptosis).

Preparations targeted therapy   (from Eng. target - the target, the target) - a new class of drugs selective effects on the pathogenetic grounded molecular targets that are unique to tumor cells .

The action of these drugs is that: they reduce growth of microvessels in tumor and stop the growth of the primary tumor and metastases. Tumor cells need oxygen for growth, blood supply, and targennye drugs, like blocking access to oxygen, have a devastating effect on her.

Application targeted therapies   dramatically changes the whole strategy of chemotherapy of malignant tumors. Targeted drugs differ from the classical anticancer drugs   Not only the mechanism of action, and toxicity. They have a more pronounced cytotoxic action t.e.vyzyvayut stop tumor growth, resulting in the stabilization process. This is important because chemotherapy, many patients can not be carried out precisely because of its considerable toxicity (in Vol. h. The elderly and patients in critical condition).

Accordingly, the use of targeted therapies   does not require the use of "concurrent therapy", which have to be used in the treatment of classical drugs: permanent povyshatgemoglobina, administered antiemetics etc.

Targeted drugs   aimed at stabilizing the neoplastic process, to transfer it to a chronic condition. And so many of them to be used in earlier stages of treatment.

In conclusion we can say that with the creation of new species anticancer drugs   greatly enhances the chemotherapy even if the cancer diseases, which is traditionally considered insensitive to it.

Targeted drugs are currently used more frequently in modern combination chemotherapy of tumors and are the real weapons to prolong the life of cancer patients.

Oksana Herasymenko

Treatment and prevention

Go back to the main page