Potential Alternatives to Conventional Cancer Therapeutic Approaches: The Way Forward

Conventional cancer therapeutic approaches broadly include chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. These established approaches have evolved over several decades of clinical experience. For a complex disease like cancer, satisfactory treatment remains an enigma for the simple fact that the causal factors for cancer are extremely diverse. In order to overcome existing therapeutic limitations, consistent scientific endeavors have evolved several potential therapeutic approaches, majority of which focuses essentially on targeted drug delivery, minimal concomitant ramification, and selective high cytotoxicity. The current review focuses on highlighting some of these potential alternatives that are currently in various stages of in vitro, in vivo, and clinical trials. These include physical, chemical and biological entities that are avidly being explored for therapeutic alternatives. Some of these entities include suicide gene, micro RNA, modulatory peptides, ultrasonic waves, free radicals, nanoparticles, phytochemicals, and gene knockout, and stem cells. Each of these techniques may be exploited exclusively and in combination with conventional therapeutic approaches thereby enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of the treatment. The review intends to briefly discuss the mechanism of action, pros, and cons of potential alternatives to conventional therapeutic approaches.