Solid Tumors and Kinase Inhibition: Management and Therapy Efficacy Evolution

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences 2022-03, Vol.23 (7), p.3830
• Main Authors: de Pinho Pessoa, Flávia Melo Cunha, Machado, Caio Bezerra, da Silva, Emerson Lucena, da Costa Pantoja, Laudreísa, Ribeiro, Rodrigo Monteiro, de Moraes, Maria Elisabete Amaral, de Moraes Filho, Manoel Odorico, Montenegro, Raquel Carvalho, Khayat, André Salim, Moreira-Nunes, Caroline Aquino
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Apoptosis; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Chemotherapy; Clinical trials; Cytotoxic agents; Cytotoxicity; Cytotoxins - therapeutic use; Drug Delivery Systems; Drug development; FDA approval; Humans; Immune system; Immunologic Factors - therapeutic use; Immunosuppressive agents; Immunotherapy; Immunotherapy - methods; Kinases; Molecular Targeted Therapy; Mortality; Multidrug resistance; Mutation; neoplasms; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Neoplasms - pathology; Patients; Precision medicine; protein kinase inhibitors; Protein-tyrosine kinase; Review; Solid tumors; TKIs; Tumors; Tyrosine
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms23073830

The increasing numbers of cancer cases worldwide and the exceedingly high mortality rates of some tumor subtypes raise the question about if the current protocols for cancer management are effective and what has been done to improve upon oncologic patients' prognoses. The traditional chemo-immunotherapy options for cancer treatment focus on the use of cytotoxic agents that are able to overcome neoplastic clones' survival mechanisms and induce apoptosis, as well as on the ability to capacitate the host's immune system to hinder the continuous growth of malignant cells. The need to avert the highly toxic profiles of conventional chemo-immunotherapy and to overcome the emerging cases of tumor multidrug resistance has fueled a growing interest in the field of precision medicine and targeted molecular therapies in the last couple of decades, although relatively new alternatives in oncologic practices, the increased specificity, and the positive clinical outcomes achieved through targeted molecular therapies have already consolidated them as promising prospects for the future of cancer management. In recent years, the development and application of targeted drugs as tyrosine kinase inhibitors have enabled cancer treatment to enter the era of specificity. In addition, the combined use of targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and traditional chemotherapy has innovated the standard treatment for many malignancies, bringing new light to patients with recurrent tumors. This article comprises a series of clinical trials that, in the past 5 years, utilized kinase inhibitors (KIs) as a monotherapy or in combination with other cytotoxic agents to treat patients afflicted with solid tumors. The results, with varying degrees of efficacy, are reported.