What does targeted therapy mean?

Targeted therapy refers to a kind of treatment mode in which tumor cells are targeted at the cellular molecular level and hit precisely with drugs. Targeted therapy has specificity and special effect, it can maximally kill specific tumor cells and have no killing effect on normal cells around the tumor, so it has less adverse reactions, according to its characteristics targeted therapy drugs are also called “biological missiles”. Targeted drugs mainly include small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors, multikinase inhibitors, and large molecule monoclonal antibodies. Among them, small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors mainly include gefitinib, erlotinib, afatinib, ositinib, etc.; multikinase inhibitors include sorafenib, sunitinib, lenvatinib, etc.; large-molecule monoclonal antibodies are commonly used in clinics, such as bevacizumab. Targeted therapy still has some side effects, patients may experience cardiotoxicity, skin rash, diarrhea and other symptoms. It is recommended that patients use the drug under the guidance of a doctor.