Cancer research 2001: drug resistance, new targets and drug combinations.
The development of new anticancer drugs and the identification of novel targets represent major focus areas for pharmaceutical and biotech companies, universities and research institutes worldwide. The 92nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) provided a glimpse of the latest developments in the cancer field. We highlight here presentations on resistance mechanisms (efflux, target modulation), new targets and drugs in development (topoisomerase, angiogenesis, cell cycle inhibitors) and new molecular technologies. The emergence of technologies for concurrently screening for expression of thousands of genes, has provided a new approach for the identification of molecular targets and mechanisms of both action and resistance of new compounds. The importance of inhibiting multiple targets simultaneously was brought up in several presentations.
Broxterman
H J
HJ
Department of Medical Oncology, Vrije Universiteit Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. H.Broxterman@vumc.nl
Georgopapadakou
N
N
D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*