Recent Advances in the Therapeutic Development of Receptor Tyrosine Kinases (RTK) against Different Types of Cancer

Abstract

Receptor Tyrosine Kinases (RTKs) are an important class of receptors involved in regulating different cellular functions. The usual pathway of RTK activation involves specific ligand binding, dimerization and trans-autophosphorylation. Recently, RTK has been extensively studied as they have potential applications in targeted cancer therapy. RTK-based therapeutic strategies are promising because dysfunction of RTK is connected to a variety of diseases. More specifically, RTK has been widely associated with different types of cancer and related diseases. The chapter aims to cover recent advances and challenges in RTK related research, to get an overview of the problems and possibilities associated with targeted therapy. This will help in deciphering novel therapeutic applications in the future.

How Should the Worldwide Knowledge of Traditional Cancer Healing Be Integrated with Herbs and Mushrooms into Modern Molecular Pharmacology?

“…Different biological stimuli and other signaling pathways converge on them. Thus, various growth factors, such as the epidermal growth factor (EGF), the fibroblast growth factor (FGF), the insulin-like growth factor (IGF), and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), bind to and activate their tyrosine kinase receptors which induce the signal transduction following the involvement of PI3K/AKT and ERK/MAPK signaling [ 26 , 27 ]. Thereby, the inhibition of these pathways is usually associated with the attenuation of tumor growth, migration, invasion, as well as the induction of apoptosis which makes them desirable drug targets.…”