Unique adverse effects of molecular targeted drugs
Kobayashi, T.; Ichikawa, W.
Nihon Rinsho. Japanese Journal of Clinical Medicine 68(10): 1929-1935
2010
ISSN/ISBN: 0047-1852 PMID: 20954342 Document Number: 647348
Molecular targeted drugs have been developed to act principally on specific molecules expressed on either cancer cells or normal surrounding cells in cancerous tissues. Ideally, expressions of these targeted molecules are markedly increased in cancerous tissues as compared with normal tissue. This class of drugs has been expected to have superior antitumor effects without any toxicities. Over the last decade, however, the introduction of molecular targeted drugs into clinical setting revealed unexpected, occasionally lethal, "off-targeted" adverse effects which were different from the toxic profiles of cytotoxic drugs. In this review, the adverse effects of molecular targeted drugs, the managements of these toxicities and the molecular mechanism underlying of these toxicities are reviewed.