Drugging the 'undruggable' cancer targets
Chi V Dang1,2, E Premkumar Reddy3, Kevan M Shokat4
1Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
Nature Reviews. Cancer
|June 24, 2017
Summary
Scientists are making progress in developing drugs for previously
Area of Science:
- Oncology and pharmacology
- Drug discovery and development
Background:
- The term "undruggable" historically described proteins untargetable by drugs.
- Many cancer targets, such as RAS and MYC oncogenes, were considered "undruggable".
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore advances, challenges, and future directions in targeting difficult-to-drug proteins in cancer.
- To gather expert opinions from scientists in the field.
Main Methods:
- This article presents a viewpoint based on discussions with four leading scientists.
- It synthesizes expert perspectives on current research and technological needs.
Main Results:
- Progress is being made in developing pharmacological strategies for previously intractable protein targets.
- Innovation and new technologies are crucial for overcoming challenges in targeting proteins like RAS and MYC.
Conclusions:
- The field is moving towards 'difficult to drug' or 'yet to be drugged' terminology.
- Targeting these challenging oncogenes remains a key focus for future cancer research and therapeutic development.
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