Premium
From Mitotic Mechanism to New Cancer Drugs
Author(s) -
Mitchison Timothy J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.5.a888-b
Subject(s) - vinca , druggability , phenotypic screening , mitosis , cancer cell , biology , kinesin , mechanism (biology) , cell division , drug discovery , cancer , cell , pharmacology , cancer research , microtubule , phenotype , microbiology and biotechnology , bioinformatics , genetics , gene , philosophy , epistemology
One effective way to treat cancer is to poison cell division. Current chemotherapy drugs in this class (taxanes and vinca alkaloids) block microtubule dynamics. While effective in some cancers, these drugs cause toxicity to neurons and normal dividing cells. Small molecule inhibitors of the mitotic kinesin Eg5 were found by phenotypic screening, and improved by pharmaceutical companies. They hold promise as cell division drugs that do not harm neurons. The immediate challenge with Eg5 inhibitors is to understand how inhibition of the target causes cancer cells to die, and thus learn how best to use these drugs in the clinic. Genome‐wide RNAi screening is revealing new druggable targets in cell division. The larger challenge is to find targets, and design drugs, that kill dividing cancer cells while sparing not only non‐dividing neurons, but also dividing normal stem cells.