New Drugs to Combat Cancer: Targeted Therapies
Scientists are using what is known about the regulation of gene expression in disease states, including cancer, to develop new ways to treat and prevent disease development. Many scientists are designing drugs on the basis of the gene expression patterns within individual tumors. This idea, that therapy and medicines can be tailored to an individual, has given rise to the field of personalized medicine. With an increased understanding of gene regulation and gene function, medicines can be designed to specifically target diseased cells without harming healthy cells.
Some new medicines, called targeted therapies, have exploited the overexpression of a specific protein or the mutation of a gene to develop a new medication to treat disease. One such example is the use of anti-EGF receptor medications to treat the subset of breast cancer tumors that have very high levels of the EGF protein. Undoubtedly, more targeted therapies will be developed as scientists learn more about how gene expression changes can cause cancer.
Career Connection: Clinical Trial Coordinator
A clinical trial coordinator is the person managing the proceedings of the clinical trial. This job includes coordinating patient schedules and appointments, maintaining detailed notes, building the database to track patients (especially for long-term follow-up studies), ensuring proper documentation has been acquired and accepted, and working with the nurses and doctors to facilitate the trial and publication of the results. A clinical trial coordinator may have a science background, like a nursing degree, or other certification. People who have worked in science labs or in clinical offices are also qualified to become a clinical trial coordinator. These jobs are generally in hospitals; however, some clinics and doctor’s offices also conduct clinical trials and may hire a coordinator.