Current Cancer Drug Targets - Volume 15, Issue 5, 2015

The Notch signaling pathway is a highly conserved system that controls embryonic cell fate decisions and the maintenance of adult stem cells through affecting communication between adjacent cells. The pathway is linked to the development of various cancers owing to increased cell proliferation and tumor blood perfusion in addition to inhibition of apoptosis. Pharmaceutical agents that suppress overactive Notch sign Read More

Aurora kinase A, B and C, are key regulators of mitosis and are over expressed in many of the human cancers, making them an ideal drug target for cancer chemotherapy. Currently, over a dozen of Aurora kinase inhibitors are in various phases of clinical development. The majority of the inhibitors (VX-680/MK-0457, PHA-739358, CYC116, SNS-314, AMG 900, AT-9283, SCH- 1473759, ABT-348, PF-03814735, R-763/AS-70356 Read More

Cancer is fundamentally a genomic disease caused by mutations or rearrangements in the DNA or epigenetic machinery of a patient. An emerging field in cancer treatment targets key aberrations arising from the mutational landscape of an individual patient’s disease rather than employing a cancer-wide cytotoxic therapy approach. In prostate cancer in particular, where there is an observed variation in response to standard t Read More

Traditional therapy for cancer is subject to some evident obstacles, including low effectiveness, resistance, systemic complication, etc. Gold nanostructures responsive to near-infrared (NIR) light are attractive for non-invasive and targeted therapy because of their unique physical properties especially strong absorption and scattering, and high surface area-to-volume ratio as well as the ease of which their surface Read More

The epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFRTKI), such as gefitinib and erlotinib have improved the survival of patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Unfortunately, acquired resistance will eventually develop in most patients who initially respond to the therapy. Currently known molecular mechanisms for such an acquired resistance may interpret only about 70% of clinical cases. In this Read More

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tends to develop in the liver when there is a high level of background inflammation (cirrhosis). Treatment options are limited and mainly based on systemic therapies such as anti-angiogenic drugs (e.g. sorafenib). Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is a matricellular protein involved in inflammation, tumour growth and angiogenesis. The aim of this study is to determine Read More

Drug delivery systems are under intense investigation all around the world, especially in oncology research. Indeed, in some cases, like bone metastasis, nanodrugs may represent the last and best choice for both treatment and imaging of early cancer foci. Nuclear medicine has been using MDP labelled with 99mTc as radiopharmaceuticals for many years; however, their use as nanoradiopharmaceuticals is very innova Read More