Title:Targeted Therapies in Lung Cancers: Current Landscape and Future Prospects
Volume: 16
Issue: 4
Author(s): Xin Feng, Wenqing Ding, Junhong Ma, Baijun Liu and Hongmei Yuan*
Affiliation:
- School of Business Administration, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang,China
Keywords:
Lung cancer, targeted therapies, science-technology-clinic, target-target interaction network, progress and
prospects, signal transduction, target prediction.
Abstract:
Background: Lung cancer is the most common malignant cancer worldwide. Targeted
therapies have emerged as a promising treatment strategy for lung cancers.
Objective: To evaluate the current landscape of targets and find promising targets for future new
drug discovery for lung cancers, this research identified the science-technology-clinical development
pattern and mapped the interaction network of targets.
Methods: Targets for cancers were classified into 3 groups based on a paper published in Nature.
We searched for scientific pieces of literature, patent documents and clinical trials of targets in
Group 1 and Group 2 for lung cancers. Then, a target-target interaction network of Group 1 was
constructed, and the science-technology-clinical (S-T-C) development patterns of targets in Group
1 were identified. Finally, based on the cluster distribution and the development pattern of targets
in Group 1, interactions between the targets were employed to predict potential targets in Group 2
for drug development.
Results: The target-target interaction (TTI) network of group 1 resulted in 3 clusters with different
developmental stages. The potential targets in Group 2 are divided into 3 ranks. Level-1 is the first
priority and level-3 is the last. Level-1 includes 16 targets, such as STAT3, CRKL, and PTPN11,
that are mostly involved in signaling transduction pathways. Level-2 and level-3 contain 8 and 6
targets, respectively, related to various biological functions.
Conclusion: This study will provide references for drug development in lung cancers, emphasizing
that priorities should be given to targets in Level-1, whose mechanisms are worth further exploration.
