Open Access

Rationale for the design of an oncology trial using a generic targeted therapy multi‑drug regimen for NSCLC patients without treatment options (Review)

  • Authors:
    • Stefan Langhammer
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  • Published online on: July 22, 2013     https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2013.2631
  • Pages: 1535-1541
  • Copyright: © Langhammer . This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License [CC BY_NC 3.0].

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Abstract

Despite more than 70 years of research concerning medication for cancer treatment, the disease still remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Many cancer types lead to death within a period of months to years. The original class of chemotherapeutics is not selective for tumor cells and often has limited efficacy, while treated patients suffer from adverse side‑effects. To date, the concept of tumor‑specific targeted therapy drugs has not fulfilled its expectation to provide a key for a cure. Today, many oncology trials are designed using a combination of chemotherapeutics with targeted therapy drugs. However, these approaches have limited outcomes in most cancer indications. This perspective review provides a rationale to combine targeted therapy drugs for cancer treatment based on observations of evolutionary principles of tumor development and HIV infections. In both diseases, the mechanisms of immune evasion and drug resistance can be compared to some extent. However, only for HIV is a breakthrough treatment available, which is the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The principles of HAART and recent findings from cancer research were employed to construct a hypothetical model for cancer treatment with a multi‑drug regimen of targeted therapy drugs. As an example of this hypothesis, it is proposed to combine already marketed targeted therapy drugs against VEGFRs, EGFR, CXCR4 and COX2 in an oncology trial for non‑small cell lung cancer patients without further treatment options.
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October 2013
Volume 30 Issue 4

Print ISSN: 1021-335X
Online ISSN:1791-2431

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Spandidos Publications style
Langhammer S: Rationale for the design of an oncology trial using a generic targeted therapy multi‑drug regimen for NSCLC patients without treatment options (Review). Oncol Rep 30: 1535-1541, 2013.
APA
Langhammer, S. (2013). Rationale for the design of an oncology trial using a generic targeted therapy multi‑drug regimen for NSCLC patients without treatment options (Review). Oncology Reports, 30, 1535-1541. https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2013.2631
MLA
Langhammer, S."Rationale for the design of an oncology trial using a generic targeted therapy multi‑drug regimen for NSCLC patients without treatment options (Review)". Oncology Reports 30.4 (2013): 1535-1541.
Chicago
Langhammer, S."Rationale for the design of an oncology trial using a generic targeted therapy multi‑drug regimen for NSCLC patients without treatment options (Review)". Oncology Reports 30, no. 4 (2013): 1535-1541. https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2013.2631