Cancer is one of the most common life-threatening diseases of the modern world, according to the research, there was around 12. 7 million people were diagnosed with cancer in 2008, and around13% of all deaths. In this essay, a discussion of the introduction of cancer disease, which is followed by an analysis of the treatment usage and the effectiveness of targeted therapy and subsequently compare targeted therapy and the other cancer treatment resolution. Cancer is a big class of disease causes the abnormal cell growth uncontrollably and spread through the body.
There are over 100 different types of cancer, and each is classified by the type of cell that is initially affected. The tumors usually classified into two main groups, they are solid tumors (in organ of body) and liquid tumors (in the circulatory and lymphatic system). The cause of cancer is usually due to carcinogens which is widespread in the environment, If the cell is belong to cancerous tumor-malignant, it invades other organ or spread systems and life threatening.
The cancer usually progress through 4 stages, the signs and symptoms will depend on the position, size and numbers of the cancer cells, also different in several stages. If the tumor is close to the body surface, you might see a lump or swelling, a change of color of the skin or mucous membranes. If the tumor is deep, the symptoms appear until the tumor grows to push on nearby organs, blood vessels, and nerves. This pressure causes some of the signs and symptoms of cancer.
Cancer remains one of the largest causes of death worldwide, therefore huge amounts are spent to treatment of cancer, and this essay will focus on the targeted therapy. Targeted cancer therapies are drugs or other substances that block the growth and spread of cancer by interfering with specific molecules involved in tumor growth and progression. The first molecular target for targeted cancer therapy was the cellular receptor for the female sex hormone estrogen, in 1949 by Leukemia but there was 0% in five year survival.
In 2009, there were 38 subtypes have been identified, and 70% in five year survival. Targeted therapy is a treatment that aims to exploit some biologic feature of the tumor to eradicate it. There are 2 main types of targeted therapy drugs— monoclonal antibodies and small-molecule drugs. Monoclonal antibody therapy is the use of monoclonal antibodies to specifically bind to target cells or proteins. This may then stimulate the patient’s immune system to attack those cells. For example, mAb therapy can be used to destroy malignant tumor cells and prevent tumor growth by blocking specific cell receptors.
Small-molecule drugs are typically able to diffuse into cells and can act on targets that are found inside the cell. Most monoclonal antibodies cannot penetrate the plasma membrane and are directed against targets cells. Targeted therapy is in contrast to traditional chemotherapy, which is not specific to a particular tumor type and acts by killing rapidly dividing cells, regardless of whether or not they are malignant. There are two major reasons for the development of targeted therapies.
Firstly, by targeting a unique characteristic of the tumor, cancer cells will be killed while normal cells will be spared, thus providing effective cancer treatment with fewer side effects. Secondly, if the target is essential for the viability of the cancer, it is unlikely that the cancer cell will easily become resistant to the targeted therapy, thus increasing the effectiveness of this type of treatment. Although targeted therapy drugs don’t affect the body the same way that standard chemo drugs do, they still cause side effects.
When drugs attack more than one target, side effects are more likely. Also, drugs that act as angiogenesis inhibitors affect new blood vessel formation all over the body, not just for cancers. Many of the targeted therapy drugs can cause a rash or other skin changes. For example, targeted therapy drugs target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein, which tells the cancer cells to grow and divide. The problem is that normal skin cells also have a lot of EGFR, and drugs that target or block EGFR often affect skin cells, too.
They turn off the signal for skin cells to grow normally and make it harder for them to retain moisture. Allergic reactions usually within minutes to hours after taking the drug. They may include hives and intense itching. An allergic reaction often includes other serious symptoms such as trouble breathing, dizziness, tightness in the throat or chest, or swelling of the lips or tongue. The improvements in cancer treatment seen in the last 100 years have been dramatic outcomes over the world.
In the past, doctors used to use ‘therapeutic window’, refers to the ability of a treatment to kill cancer cells while minimizing the toxicity to healthy, normal cells. Furthermore, targeted therapies tend to be better tolerated than traditional cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents and the development of target therapy allows greater tumor specificity and less toxicity so it has started to spread across the world. In order to avoid cancer recurs, most of the doctors suggest combining target therapy and chemotherapy to completely eradicate the cancer.
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