16/09/2022
What is Target Therapy?
Today and more and more, advances in Oncology and Immuno-Oncology are incredible and very dynamic.
So much so that today we can no longer speak of breast cancer, but of different types of breast cancer, likewise we can no longer speak of lung cancer but of different types of lung cancer, and so on. suite with most oncological pathologies.
These different types are based on the molecular profile, characteristic and specific to each oncological pathology.
Thus, for example, Lung Cancer can in its histological varieties be small cell or non-small cell, within this second category there is a variety, adenocarcinoma which is becoming more and more frequent and which can present the mutation of certain genes, for example EGFR (Epidermal Grow Factor) or the so-called ALK.
For these mutated genes on the surface of the tumor cell membrane, specific therapies have been developed which only attack and destroy the cells which present these mutated genes.
These specific treatments for cells that do not act on others, and which act like a projectile launched from a telescopic sight, are called targeted therapies.
We could also imagine them as an arrow which, launched from a bow, hits the center of the target. These Target treatments act on the molecule of the tumor cell, and come in the form of capsules taken orally or in the form of injectables to be diluted.
Examples of these target therapies are erlotinib, gefitinib and afatinib for lung cancer, trastuzumab for breast cancer, bevacizumab for colon cancer and sorafenib for hepatocarcinoma.
The list of targeted therapies carried out by molecular engineering is growing every day.
This summary attempts to explain very briefly what a target therapy is and who may be candidates for its use.
Dr. Wilson Golomar, oncologist and international reference. Dispel your doubts and make a decision based on information.
https://tmed.live/
