title: Promising Targets in Anti-cancer Drug Development: Recent Updates.
abstract: Cancer is a multifactorial disease and its genesis and progression are extremely complex. The biggest problem in the anticancer drug development is acquiring of multidrug resistance and relapse. Classical chemotherapeutics directly target the DNA of the cell, while the contemporary anticancer drugs involve molecular-targeted therapy such as targeting the proteins possessing abnormal expression inside the cancer cells. Conventional strategies for the complete eradication of the cancer cells proved ineffective. Targeted chemotherapy was successful in certain malignancies however, the effectiveness has often been limited by drug resistance and side effects on normal tissues and cells. Since last few years, many promising drug targets have been identified for the effective treatment of cancer. The current review article describes some of these promising anticancer targets that include kinases, tubulin, cancer stem cells, monoclonal antibodies and vascular targeting agents. In addition, promising drug candidates under various phases of clinical trials are also described. Multi-acting drugs that simultaneously target different cancer cell signaling pathways may facilitate the process of effective anti-cancer drug development.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Centre for Pharmaceutical Sciences and Natural Products, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab. India.
authors.forename: Bhupinder
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Centre for Human Genetics and Molecular Medicines, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab. India.
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck. Austria.
authors.forename: Ira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Skvortsova
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Centre for Pharmaceutical Sciences and Natural Products, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab. India.
authors.forename: Vinod
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D011494:Protein Kinases
keywords: Anticancer; cancer stem cells; kinases; multi-drug resistance; multi-targeting agents; tubulin inhibitor