Novel oncology therapeutics: targeted drug delivery for cancer.

Abstract

Despite the progress in techniques for cancer prevention, detection, and treatment, as well as for increasing the public awareness in recent years, this disease is projected to become the leading cause of death worldwide. Advancements in omics, analytical procedures, and high throughput screening in the last five years have led to the realization that human diseases and especially cancer are more complex than were originally conceived. Cancer is not a static entity that can be easily monitored and manipulated. It is characterized by a dynamic and time-dependent network of constantly altered molecular and cellular interactions between players in different pathways. This network is not invariable and rigid but is constantly reshaped and altered conforming to the pliable signaling processes/responses implicated. Its complexity is apparent by the fact that the disease state is not a disruption of a single node or specific nodes in the network organism but is organism-patient dependent, thus requiring personalized perspective approaches.