[New targets and new drugs in thoracic oncology]

Sophora compounds against non-small cell lung cancer: Research status and mechanisms

BACKGROUND

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most prevalent form of lung cancer, characterized by dysregulated signaling pathways. Many Sophora compounds exhibit potential anti-NSCLC properties. However, the research status, particularly regarding the underlying mechanisms, remains fragmented.

PURPOSE

To review the research status as well as mechanisms of Sophora compounds against NSCLC.

METHODS

A systematic review was conducted on publications retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science and CNKI. The retrieval keywords are paired in various forms of "Sophora compound name" and "non-small cell lung cancer" (including adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma). Only experimental (at cell or animal level) or clinical studies demonstrating therapeutic effects of Sophora compounds were included.

RESULTS

>52 Sophora compounds have demonstrated potential anti-NSCLC effects through various signaling pathways, primarily targeting apoptosis induction, cell cycle arrest, and metastasis suppression. Investigated signaling pathways mainly include apoptosis, PI3K/Akt/mTOR, MAPK, STAT3/NF-κB, and EGFR signaling. The expression of apoptotic caspases, Bcl-2, Bax, Akt, mTOR, PI3K, Erk, Jnk, p38, STAT3 and NF-κB is frequently assayed. Notably, most researches have focused on cell models of A549 and H1299, primarily on aforementioned signaling pathways at the protein level.

CONCLUSION

Many Sophora compounds, particularly flavonoids, show promise as multi-target agents against NSCLC. However, animal experiments and clinical evidence remain limited, and future studies could prioritize investigations on deeper molecular mechanisms, and on little-explored toxicology.

Research progress of nanomaterial drug delivery in tumor targeted therapy

Cancer is one of the most lethal diseases in human society, and its incidence is gradually increasing. However, the current tumor treatment often meets the problem of poor efficacy and big side effects. The unique physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials can target the delivery of drugs to tumors, which can improve the therapeutic effect while reducing the damage of drugs to normal cells. This makes nanomaterials become a hot topic in the field of biomedicine. This review summarizes the recent progress of nanomaterials in tumor targeted therapy.

Molecular Tumor Boards: Ethical Issues in the New Era of Data Medicine

The practice and development of modern medicine requires large amounts of data, particularly in the domain of cancer. The future of personalized medicine lies neither with "genomic medicine" nor with "precision medicine", but with "data medicine" (DM) (big data, data mining). The establishment of this DM has required far-reaching changes, to establish four essential elements connecting patients and doctors: biobanks, databases, bioinformatic platforms and genomic platforms. The "transformation" of scientific research areas, such as genetics, bioinformatics and biostatistics, into clinical specialties has generated a new vision of care. Molecular tumor boards (MTB) are one response to these changes and are now providing better access to next-generation sequencing (NGS) and new cancer treatments to patients with inoperable or metastatic cancers, and those for whom the usual treatment has failed. However, MTB face a crucial ethical challenge: maintaining and improving the trust of patients, clinicians, researchers and industry in academic medical centers supported by private or public funding rather than providing genetic data directly to private companies. We believe that, in this era of DM, appropriate modern digital communication networks will be required to maintain this trust and to improve the organization and effectiveness of the system. There is, therefore, a need to reconsider the form and content of informed consent (IC) documents at all academic medical centers and to introduce dynamic and electronic informed consent (e-IC).