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Molecular mechanisms of therapy resistance in solid tumors: chasing “moving” targets

  • Invited Annual Review Issue
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Abstract

The goal of personalized cancer therapy is to treat tumors based on genomic aberrations that drive their survival and progression. Most patients who receive targeted therapies typically develop resistance and disease progression within a year’s time. This review focuses on the heterogeneous mechanisms of therapy resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors, endocrine/hormone therapy and checkpoint blockade using non-small cell lung cancer, breast and castration-resistant prostate cancer, and melanoma as classical examples, respectively. In addition, testing for resistance mechanisms and therapeutic approaches to overcoming resistance is addressed.

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  1. One Medical Center Drive, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, 03754, USA

    Laura J. Tafe

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Tafe, L.J. Molecular mechanisms of therapy resistance in solid tumors: chasing “moving” targets. Virchows Arch 471, 155–164 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-017-2101-7

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