Tyrosine kinase inhibitors: switching gears on the tumor microenvironment

Introduction Tyrosine kinases are enzymes that play a key role in mediating cellular processes such as cell growth, movement, differentiation, apoptosis and metabolism. Henceforth, dysregulation of the activity of the signaling of their receptors has a key role in the pathophysiology of cancer. There are four main ways that receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling can become unbalanced; chromosomal rearrangements, gain-of-function mutations, genomic amplification and/or autocrine activation. The use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors is a type of targeted therapy for various cancers whereby the action of the tyrosine kinase enzyme is blocked. Understanding the mechanism of action of both RTKs and...