Cancer research

Cancer research is the intense scientific effort to understand disease processes and discover possible therapies. Although understanding of cancer has greatly increased since the last decades of the 20th century, few radically new therapies have been discovered.

The first effective therapy which first became available in the 1990s has had a significant impact in the treatment of some types of cancer. This constitutes the use of agents specific for the deregulated proteins of cancer cells. Small molecules (such as the tyrosine kinase inhibitors) and monoclonal antibodies have proven to be a major step in oncological treatment.