Novel therapies in oncology: a descriptive review

• Immunotherapy in oncology is based on the stimulation of the patient’s natural defences to fight against the tumour. It includes all products of biological origin: non-specific immunotherapies, oncolytic viruses, cancer vaccines, CAR-T cells and monoclonal antibodies. Small molecules are not considered immunotherapy since they are synthetic drugs.
• CAR-T therapy involves genetically reprogramming the patient’s T-lymphocytes, and it is an effective alternative for certain haematological malignancies.
• Many times indications of novel drugs do not only focus on the anatomical location but target tumours caused by genetic mutations.
• Targeted cancer therapies can be classified into two categories: monoclonal antibodies (biological) and small molecules (synthetic), although both address specific targets, unlike conventional chemotherapy.
• Because monoclonal antibodies are large molecules, they only act outside of cells. They are administered parenterally and are identified by the suffix –mab.
• Small molecules, due to their small size, may also act inside of cells and many of them orally available. Most include the suffix –ib, although other designations include different suffixes (-stat, -oclax, etc.).