Treatment

Targeted therapy

• Targeted therapies inhibit the growth and division of the rapidly multiplying cancerous cells.
• Certain mediators in the body like growth factors and signaling pathways enable the cancer cells to grow and divide in an uncontrolled manner. Such mediators and signaling pathways are blocked by targeted therapy.
• Drugs may enter the cell or bind to certain proteins called receptors on the surface of the cell to inhibit the growth and division of the cancerous cells.
• Targeted therapies do not have the side effects of chemotherapy. However, they can result in other side effects like diarrhea, skin rash, bleeding, clotting etc.
• The therapy is promising and more studies on targeted therapy are in pipe line.¹⁴