A rational selection of drug targets needs deeper insights into general regulation mechanisms.
The cancer mortality remains high, although progress has been attained by chemotherapy and other therapeutic strategies. Effective cancer prevention interventions would markedly reduce the cancer mortality burden, thus chemoprevention and chemotherapy must be seen as complementary approaches to fight human cancers. Nevertheless, our understanding of drug mechanisms of action is rather limited as we do not know the behaviour of highly-complex regulatory networks of the cell and how they respond to a particular small molecule. Similarly, that limits a truly rational approach to drug discovery and identification of good molecular targets. Until we get deeper insights into fundamental mechanisms of cellular functions, the approach to drug design and discovery will remain empirical.
Capranico
Giovanni
G
Department of Biochemistry "G Moruzzi", Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, via Irnerio 48, 40126 Bologna, Italy. giovanni.capranico@unibo.it
D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D026942:DNA Topoisomerases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015195:Drug Design; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations
D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D026942:DNA Topoisomerases