We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
How Can We Treat Cancer Disease Not Cancer Cells?
- Authors
Kyu-Won Kim; Su-Jae Lee; Woo-Young Kim; Ji Hae Seo; Ho-Young Lee
- Abstract
Since molecular biology studies began, researches in biological science have centered on proteins and genes at molecular level of a single cell. Cancer research has also focused on various functions of proteins and genes that distinguish cancer cells from normal cells. Accordingly, most contemporary anticancer drugs have been developed to target abnormal characteristics of cancer cells. Despite the great advances in the development of anticancer drugs, vast majority of patients with advanced cancer have shown grim prognosis and high rate of relapse. To resolve this problem, we must reevaluate our focuses in current cancer research. Cancer should be considered as a systemic disease because cancer cells undergo a complex interaction with various surrounding cells in cancer tissue and spread to whole body through metastasis under the control of the systemic modulation. Human body relies on the cooperative interaction between various tissues and organs, and each organ performs its specialized function through tissue-specific cell networks. Therefore, investigation of the tumor-specific cell networks can provide novel strategy to overcome the limitation of current cancer research. This review presents the limitations of the current cancer research, emphasizing the necessity of studying tissue-specific cell network which could be a new perspective on treating cancer disease, not cancer cells.
- Subjects
CANCER research; CANCER treatment; CANCER cells; MOLECULAR biology; ANTINEOPLASTIC agents; METASTASIS
- Publication
Cancer Research & Treatment, 2017, Vol 49, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
1598-2998
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.4143/crt.2016.606