Author(s) :

Eva S. Shirgaonkar.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

Cancer continues to be a leading cause of death worldwide, and treatments continue to present challenges and limitations affecting therapeutic benefit. Many traditional treatments, including radiation and chemotherapy, target rapidly dividing cells; however, they are largely incapable of distinguishing between cancer cells and healthy cells. Targeted therapies are adopting a different approach towards treating cancer in order to focus on cancer-specific molecular and genetic features. Therapies of mitochondrial apoptosis regulating cancer cell death, polymeric nanocarriers enhancing drug delivery and reducing off-target toxicity, and proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) technology and its ability to recruit specific ligases have allowed for greater specificity toward cancer-associated molecular features. This increased therapeutic specificity may reduce damage to healthy cells which in turn would improve patient health, making these methods favorable to past ones. Though drug resistance and cost remain disadvantages even in the introduction of these therapies, the patient experiences are enhanced as side effects are decreased. This review aims to explore how targeted therapies are more capable of selectively targeting cancer cells while minimizing effects on healthy cells.