PhD conferral Zeinab Mohamed Mamdouh Abdelkareem Gomaa

Keywords: Personalised medicine, Network pharmacology, Thyroid cancer, DIPG
 

"De-novo construction of organ-agnostic cancer modules and therapeutic application"

Most diseases are currently treated symptomatically due to a lack of understanding of their causal mechanisms emphasising the need for a shift towards molecular-based disease definition. Understanding the core mechanisms of a disease would enable the targeting of specific components within those mechanisms. Ideally, this can be achieved by repurposing approved drug candidates for other diseases.

In the field of oncology, a significant shift is underway towards the development of biomarker-targeted agents. This shift has been prompted by a profound realisation that cancers are not homogeneous entities. Instead, they exhibit increasing heterogeneity at the genetic levels. This understanding has highlighted the paramount role of precision medicine in the field, where therapies can be tailored to target specific disease mechanisms in individual cancer patients.

The proposed concept of mechanism-based drug repurposing holds an array of remarkable benefits. Firstly, it empowers us to explore new applications for registered drugs. This approach enables us to tailor treatments to the specific molecular pathways governing each disease. Moreover, this strategy helps cutting down on costs and time in the drug development process– jumping straight into clinical trials.

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