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New approaches to cancer therapies
Author(s) -
Fåhraeus Robin,
Fischer Peter,
Krausz Eberhard,
Lane David P.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the journal of pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.964
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1096-9896
pISSN - 0022-3417
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9896(199901)187:1<138::aid-path252>3.0.co;2-m
Subject(s) - cancer , oncogene , cancer cell , gene , computational biology , biology , cancer research , clinical trial , bioinformatics , medicine , genetics , cell cycle
Inactivation of the tumour suppressors p53 and p16 INK4a or activating mutations in the ras oncogene are the most common genetic alterations found in human cancers. In this review, novel approaches designed to evaluate the effect of targeting intracellular molecules are described and it is shown how information derived from small synthetic peptides can stimulate novel approaches for cancer drugs. This review also gives an example of how molecular, biochemical, and cell biology studies of cancer‐associated gene products can, via organic chemistry, be translated into active drugs ready for testing in clinical trials. New cancer treatments are directly springing out of studies related to tumour physiology, where the prime target is not the tumour cells but the tumour blood vessels; some of the different approaches that are being tested will be highlighted here. Finally, some of the difficulties and promises using cancer‐associated genes in gene therapy are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.