TKI treatment, a non small cell lung cancer treatment

Non small cell lung cancer targeted therapy

Gefitinib and Erlotinib are small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), targeted therapies used to treat patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Targeted therapies act predominantly against tumour cells. Both TKI's act against EGFR by inhibiting the tyrosine kinase domain of the molecule. This blocks the signalling pathways that are initiated by EGFR

Non small cell lung cancer personalised therapy

EGFR mutations found in the tyrosine kinase domain of EGFR are a type of mutation that is associated with tumour cells and not healthy cells – also known as somatic mutations

For non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who harbour these EGFR mutations, TKI treatments binds to the EGFR TK domain with high specificity and affinity resulting in highly effective inhibition of the aberrant signalling pathways. This leads to significant tumour shrinkage in many patients

Doroshow 2005

You can view an animation of the TKI treatments mode of action here