Advances made in fundamental research on cancer have led to the development of new drugs to fight it, that is to say targeted therapies. Contrary to classical “cytotoxic” anticancer drugs that destroy cells that divide rapidly (such as cancer cells, but healthy cells, too), targeted therapies combat mechanisms (genes, proteins, receivers, etc.) specific to the development of cancer cells.

For example, they attack the growth factors required for the cancer to produce its own blood vessels (angiogenesis inhibitors) or to develop (anti-EGF), block an intracellular multiplication mechanism in cancer cells (tyrosine kinase inhibitors), or target a protein overexpressed by the malignant cell at its surface (anti-HER-1). 

For further information: 
Therapeutic targeting: interview with Prof. Gilles Salles
Personalised medicine: interview with Prof. Véronique Trillet-Lenoir

A technological centre is a technical facility focused on a common theme.

The objective of a technical centre is to provide, at regional level, an organisation or a network with the support required so that they can develop their activity through technical resources focused on a common theme.

The operation of such centres relies on investments to purchase leading edge equipment and on an operating budget used to recruit dedicated technical personnel and to pay for general running costs.

It makes available equipment, competences, tools and services to target users; it also permits pooling forces and resources that each of these users could not deploy on their own.

A large number of tests to detect the effect of a molecule on, for example, a protein, are performed under fluorescence or luminescence.

Luminescence is obtained by a natural chemical reaction that transforms one substance into another, by emitting light. The quantity of light emitted is measured using specific analysers.

Regarding fluorescence, the light emitted is not due to a chemical transformation, but to the emission of light produced under the effect of radiation that modifies the position of the atoms of the molecule capable of fluorescing. As with luminescence, the quantity of fluorescence emitted is measured by specific sensors. In both types of test, the quantity of light emitted is proportional to the activity of the molecule: if a molecule strongly inhibits the function of the target protein, the quantity of light emitted will be very low.

Tolerance is the capacity of the body to bear a substance without adverse effects. When developing a drug, it is measured carefully during preclinical and clinical trials. This term is also applied in another context: when it is necessary to increase the dose of a drug to achieve the same effects as previously.

Translational research: a concept that expresses the efforts made to produce concrete applications from fundamental knowledge (See fundamental research).

Translational research is a major component of biomedical research. It is the expression of an essential need to accelerate the conversion of a scientific discovery into a concrete application that can benefit patients. That is why translational research is developed close to the patient. It involves considerable collaboration between researchers and doctors as it must lead to the transfer of knowledge in both directions. Translational research is the bridge between fundamental research and applied research.

Translational research in medicine leads either to the development of clinical applications based on a discovery made by fundamental research (exploitation), or to indicating the potential of new paths, theories and concepts on the basis of a clinical observation.

It favours investment by pharmaceutical laboratories in the steps involved in developing a candidate drug into a drug that can be administered to a patient. When well organised, translational research permits (and requires) the rapid involvement of industry during the transfer process. Despite the differences in cultures, rationales, values and practices, the objectives remain the same: that of curing! Translational research provides a space of exchange and interconnection between the academic and industrial worlds. These two sectors enrich each other mutually through their differences and neither can do without the other, as each intervenes at different stages.

See also

• Fundamental research
• Clinical research

A transmembrane protein is a protein that completely crosses the membrane of a cell. 

Tumorigenesis includes all the steps leading to the formation of tumours. This evolution mainly depends on the sequential accumulation of mutations in tissue cells, some of which are capable of malignant transformation.

The abnormal mechanisms known to participate in tumorigeneses are in particular non response to signals to stop cell division (quiescence), self-sufficiency in growth signals, cell death escape signals (apoptosis), unlimited cell proliferation, the formation of neovessels, and tissue invasion.

Tumours are excrescences due to abnormal cell proliferation. Two types of tumour can be distinguished: benign tumours and malignant tumours.

Benign tumours are tumours without serious implications. In some cases, surgical ablation may be necessary and sufficient. In other cases, simple medical follow-up is ensured to monitor the progression of the tumour.

Malignant tumours are abnormal masses of cancerous cells. Malignant tumours are capable of invading and destroying adjacent tissues. They can also spread. Their cellular structures differ from those of the tissues from which they develop and which they invade.

All tumours must be taken seriously and be correctly identified by a specialist.