Current molecular targets for urological cancer

摘要

Clinically advanced stages of urological cancers are currently treated with conventional surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. As for molecular targets, multiple kinase inhibitors (MKIs) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors have already been introduced to treat advanced metastatic renal cell carcinoma, which is refractory to cytokine therapies such as interferon-a and interleukin-2. In recent trends in cancer research, the translation of basic science into clinical application has been accelerated. In this review, new molecular targets, such as MKIs, mTOR inhibitors, along with the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/ Akt signaling pathway, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and NF-κB, as well as conventional COX inhibitors, are overviewed. As the putative source of cancer oncogenesis, cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been highlighted in recent research. Current understandings of CSCs in urologic oncology are also discussed.