Publication at First Faculty of Medicine |
2013
Abstract
Targeted therapy is a conceptual notion that should be used for such a treatment approach that has been developed based upon the known pathophysiology and/or biomarkers of a particular disease, mainly malignancies. Monoclonal antibodies and tyrosine--kinase inhibitors were among the first molecularly targeted agents.
Monoclonal antibodies approach is based on targeting a biomarker expressed either on the surface of cancer cells or targeting different cytokines. Tyrosin-kinase inhibitors are directed at the druggable molecule involved in the cancer pathophysiology inhibiting aberrant tyrosin-kinase activity.
Classification of targeted drugs and their use in the clinical practice is shortly reviewed.