TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Molecular Targeted Therapies A1 - Veitch, Zachary A1 - Bedard, Philippe L. A2 - Harrington, Lea A. A2 - Tannock, Ian F. A2 - Hill, Richard P. A2 - Cescon, David W. PY - 2021 T2 - The Basic Science of Oncology, 6e AB - Advances in molecular biology have provided a better understanding of the complex cellular pathways that are critical to tumor formation and growth. Laboratory-based assays that can detect biologically relevant molecular alterations in tumor samples, including immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, DNA sequencing, gene expression, and epigenetic profiling, have informed the development of new classes of anticancer drugs that target aberrantly expressed molecular pathways. Compared with conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy, molecular targeted agents may offer greater tumor selectivity and different patterns of toxicity as the alterations they target are more common in, or in some cases exclusive to, tumors compared with normal tissues (see Chap. 17, Sec. 17.2). Biomarkers are increasingly used to aid in the selection of patients likely to respond to a particular class of molecular targeted agent and in some cases to identify mechanisms of resistance upon disease progression. Identifying patients likely to benefit is paramount, as targeted therapies comprise a rapidly expanding proportion of health care expenditures with new drugs routinely priced at more than $100,000 per year. Decisions to integrate these agents into routine cancer care must often weigh factors such as clinical benefit, toxicity, quality of life, and treatment cost for their practical application (Schnipper et al, 2016). This chapter will focus on the preclinical development and clinical application of molecular targeted agents and highlight the biologic basis of these therapies. SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/04/19 UR - hemonc.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1179325670 ER -