Definition
A small molecule drug in cancer therapy is a molecularly defined chemical entity of low molecular weight, which is applied to a patient with the intention to heal or palliate primary proliferative disease. Or it is directed to prevent secondary consequences of the disease, which are brought about by specific secretory activity of cancer cells or their general deleterious effect on organ and system functions. A very important aspect is the alleviation of pain.
Characteristics
Differences to Large Molecule Drugs
The molecular weight of a small molecule drug is largely found to be below 1,000 Da, as often it has to pass the cell membrane to reach the target of activity.
Large molecule drugs were often less defined as they were of biological origin, e.g., due to posttranslational modifications and impurities. With the increasing power of analytical and preparative techniques and with the advent of molecularly exactly defined oligonucleotides, the distinction of exactly defined...
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References
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See Also
(2012) Cell Cycle. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 737. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_994
(2012) Constitutive. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 973. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_1322
(2012) Differentiation. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1113. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_1616
(2012) DNA Double Strand Breaks. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1139. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_1675
(2012) Ligands. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2040. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3352
(2012) Metabolism. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2258. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3660
(2012) Posttranslational Modification. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 2966. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_4696
(2012) Proliferation. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3004. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_4766
(2012) Resistance. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 3263. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_5052
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Thierauch, KH. (2015). Small Molecule Drugs. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_5374-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_5374-2
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