Potentials and future perspectives of multi-target drugs in cancer treatment: the next generation anti-cancer agents

• Published in: Cell communication and signaling 2024-04, Vol.22 (1), p.228-228, Article 228
• Main Authors: Doostmohammadi, Ali, Jooya, Hossein, Ghorbanian, Kimia, Gohari, Sargol, Dadashpour, Mehdi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Antimitotic agents; Antineoplastic agents; Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Antineoplastic drugs; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Cancer treatment; Care and treatment; Chemotherapy; Clinical outcomes; Clinical trials; Combination therapy; Drug Delivery Systems; Drug dosages; Drug interactions; Drug resistance; Drug therapy, Combination; Epigenetics; Estrogens; Forecasts and trends; Humans; Immunotherapy; Ligands; Multi-target drugs; Multidrug resistance; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Pharmacology, Experimental; Polypharmacology; Proteins; Public health; Radiation therapy; Review; Toxicity
• ISSN: 1478-811X; 1478-811X
• DOI: 10.1186/s12964-024-01607-9

Cancer is a major public health problem worldwide with more than an estimated 19.3 million new cases in 2020. The occurrence rises dramatically with age, and the overall risk accumulation is combined with the tendency for cellular repair mechanisms to be less effective in older individuals. Conventional cancer treatments, such as radiotherapy, surgery, and chemotherapy, have been used for decades to combat cancer. However, the emergence of novel fields of cancer research has led to the exploration of innovative treatment approaches focused on immunotherapy, epigenetic therapy, targeted therapy, multi-omics, and also multi-target therapy. The hypothesis was based on that drugs designed to act against individual targets cannot usually battle multigenic diseases like cancer. Multi-target therapies, either in combination or sequential order, have been recommended to combat acquired and intrinsic resistance to anti-cancer treatments. Several studies focused on multi-targeting treatments due to their advantages include; overcoming clonal heterogeneity, lower risk of multi-drug resistance (MDR), decreased drug toxicity, and thereby lower side effects. In this study, we'll discuss about multi-target drugs, their benefits in improving cancer treatments, and recent advances in the field of multi-targeted drugs. Also, we will study the research that performed clinical trials using multi-target therapeutic agents for cancer treatment.