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Giovannetti et al. Cancer Drug Resist 2018;1:82-6 Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/cdr.2018.05 Drug Resistance

Editorial Open Access

Targeted therapies in cancer: where are we going?

Elisa Giovannetti , Jose A. Rodriguez 3
1,2
1 Department Medical Oncology, Lab Medical Oncology, VU University Medical Center, Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam
1081HV, The Netherlands.
2 Cancer Pharmacology Lab, AIRC Start Up Unit, University of Pisa, Pisa 56100, Italy.
3 Department of Genetics, Physical Anthropology and Animal Physiology, University of the Basque Country, Barrio Sarriena s/n,
Leioa 48940, Spain.
Correspondence to: Dr. Elisa Giovannetti, Department Medical Oncology, Lab Medical Oncology, VU University Medical Center,
Cancer Center Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1117, Amsterdam 1081HV, The Netherlands, E-mail: elisa.giovannetti@gmail.com
How to cite this article: Giovannetti E, Rodriguez JA. Targeted therapies in cancer: where are we going? Cancer Drug Resist
2018;1:82-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/cdr.2018.05
Received: 4 May 2018 Accepted: 7 May 2018 Published: 19 Jun 2018

Science Editor: Godefridus J. Peters Copy Editor: Jun-Yao Li Production Editor: Cai-Hong Wang

SPECIAL ISSUE INTRODUCTION
Targeted therapies in cancer aim to specifically block the activity of crucial proteins or signaling pathways
necessary for the growth and/or survival of tumor cells. A major breakthrough in targeted cancer therapy
was the introduction nearly two decades ago of imatinib, an inhibitor of the BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase for
the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia. Over the last years, significant advances in our understanding
of tumor biology have facilitated the development of many drugs targeting not only kinases, but also other
protein families and cellular processes. Several of these agents are currently employed or being implemented
for the treatment of different hematologic and solid malignancies, such as lung cancer. The special issue on
“Targeted cancer therapy” will include reviews and commentaries updating the clinical use of targeted agents
in the treatment of different tumor types, and the mechanisms that underlie the action of drugs directed to
different types of targets. The special issue will also include research articles presenting novel outstanding
data on all aspects of targeted cancer therapy. All submissions will undergo rigorous peer review and will be
published free of charge upon acceptance.

PRELIMINARY EDITORIAL
This special issue will provide a comprehensive overview of novel effective anticancer-targeted compounds
to readers working in basic biomedical sciences as well as clinicians. It will cover drugs targeting not only
kinases, but also other protein families and cellular processes, with the aim of clarifying their development,
pharmacology, resistance factors, and new strategies and applications, against major tumors.

© The Author(s) 2018. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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