Are there targeted drugs for cervical cancer?

In the past decade, the scientific research and clinical practice of targeted therapy seem to have surpassed all tumor research, with academic promotion and commercial marketing rising one wave after another, and the speed of launching new drugs and the number of clinical applications unprecedentedly high. Experts remind: such drugs also have clear therapeutic indications, and may also have problems such as drug resistance and toxic side effects. Do not blindly abuse them as life-saving "magic drugs" to avoid ending up with "losing both life and money".

Targeted drugs also have resistance

"Many patients who use targeted drugs in clinical practice will have various confusions when they find that the drugs are ineffective after taking them for a period of time. "In fact, most drugs will develop drug resistance, including targeted drugs." Experts explained that molecular targeted drugs achieve their therapeutic purposes by inhibiting the growth of tumor cells and eventually causing their death. Various specific molecular targeted drugs act on a certain protein or molecule of a certain cancer cell and can only inhibit one pathway of tumor growth. When one pathway is inhibited, tumor cells will constantly seek their own "way to survive" and choose other pathways to synthesize the substances needed for their own growth. Over time, molecular targeted drugs can lose their effectiveness, that is, develop drug resistance. For example, the median effective period of TLI inhibitors, a targeted drug for the treatment of lung cancer, is 9 to 13 months, and basically every patient will develop drug resistance sooner or later.

Another common confusion is: Why is it that the same disease and the same medicine work for some people but not for others? In this regard, experts say that for specific targeted drugs, relevant genetic tests should be done before use to find out whether there are sites on the tumor cells in the patient's body that meet the "attack" of the relevant targeted drugs. Only with "sensitive" targets can the drugs take effect. In addition, targeted drugs are a step forward in the treatment of tumors, but there are still many unknown factors that restrict its development. Therefore, even after taking effect, they may fail due to various complex reasons.

"Objectively speaking, this type of drug can play a certain therapeutic role for the applicable population, but it is not as safe and effective as some exaggerated propaganda boasts." Experts said that the abuse of targeted drugs has not only affected the standardized treatment and basic treatment of cancer patients, but also reduced the efficacy of molecular targeted drugs themselves and increased their side effects. He has treated patients with serious side effects such as pulmonary fibrosis and heart failure caused by targeted therapy drugs, and the incidence of rash, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea is not low.