[Resistance to medicinal tumor therapy. Current status]

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Molecular Biology
• Clinical Diagnostics

Background:

• Multiple mechanisms of anticancer drug resistance have been identified.
• Diagnostic assays for predicting therapy response to classical cytostatic drugs are not routinely used in clinical diagnostics.
• Routine diagnostics for predicting therapy response became standard with the introduction of targeted drugs like tyrosine kinase inhibitors and therapeutic antibodies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the evolution of predictive diagnostics in oncology.
• To emphasize the need for improved diagnostic assays for predicting individual therapy response.
• To address the increasing importance of predictive diagnostics due to rising healthcare costs.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of mechanisms involved in anticancer drug resistance.
• Review of the development of diagnostic techniques for targeted therapies, including mutation analysis in key genes.
• Assessment of the role of standardized techniques in routine clinical diagnostics.

Main Results:

• Classical cytostatic drug resistance prediction assays have not entered routine clinical diagnostics.
• Standardized techniques, such as exact mutation analysis in signal transduction pathway genes, enabled routine diagnostics for targeted therapies.
• Increasing healthcare costs underscore the future importance of predictive diagnostics.

Conclusions:

• Predictive diagnostics are essential for personalized cancer therapy.
• Development of improved diagnostic assays is necessary to predict individual therapy response effectively.
• The shift towards targeted therapies has driven the adoption of routine predictive diagnostics in oncology.