TYROSINE KINASE AS TARGET FOR CANCER TREATMENT

Cancer is a complex disease occurring as a result of a progressive accumulation of genetic aberrations and epigenetic changes that enable escape from normal cellular and environmental control. Cancer is treated with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormones and immuno-therapy. But, due to side effects such as toxicity, death of normal cells near to cancer cells, second formation of cancers; these treatment was not successful. Targeted gene therapy is the most acceptable for cancer treatments because the above shortcomings overcome by it. Targeted therapy refers to a new generation of anticancer drugs that are designed to interfere with a specific molecular target, usually a protein with a critical role in tumor growth or progression. This approach differs from the more empirical approach used in conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy, which has remained the mainstay of anticancer drug use over the past several decades. Targeted therapy has the potential to reduce or eliminate many of the present problems in the field of cytotoxic chemotherapy, such as the production of serious host-cell toxicity. Several types of targeted therapy are available such as targeted stem cells, but this review focuses in particular only on tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI). Some have been approved for use in cancer therapy, and several others are in various stages of clinical trials. This paper provides a summary of some specific tyrosine kinases (TKs) and their inhibitors which are used in cancer therapy. While in normal cell regulation, TK plays a crucial signaling role, but in cancer cells it gets dysregulated. Thus, in recent times for therapy oncologists target TKs for regulating cell growth and proliferation; through their inhibitors which are small molecules with low molecular weight.