Targeted Therapy

Targeted therapy, or molecularly targeted therapy, is a major modality of cancer treatment that blocks cancer growth by interfering with specific molecules needed for carcinogenesis and tumor growth, in contrast to traditional chemotherapy, which indiscriminately attacks all rapidly dividing cells. Because it acts on molecules specific to cancer development, targeted therapy is intended to be more effective than older treatments and less harmful to normal tissue. The proof of concept came from research in Mark Greene's laboratory beginning in 1985, which showed that treating cancer cells transformed by the Her2/neu oncogene with monoclonal antibodies could reverse their malignant characteristics; targeted therapies today span biopharmaceuticals and small molecules used against lung cancer, breast cancer, melanoma and lymphoma, including the kinase inhibitor imatinib, marketed as Gleevec, which proved highly effective against the BCR-Abl fusion protein in chronic myelogenous leukemia.