Fig. 2
Aberrant activation of tyrosine kinases as a mechanism for malignant transformation. Cancer cells are defined by overactive signaling cascades, often mediated by tyrosine (tyr) kinases. Common therapeutic strategies are either blocking of the tyr kinase receptor by inhibiting antibody/pharmacological inhibitor (which does not work for ligand-independent signals and has reduced potency if the target is overexpressed), or utilizing pharmacological inhibitors that block kinase activity (dependent/independent of mutational status) [42]