Screening for Novel Drug Targets in Cancer

Abstract

Most cancer drugs are not specific enough, causing unwanted side effects and recurrence of treated tumors. Some modern cancer drugs, the so-called targeted therapeutics, specifically target tumor cells, while leaving normal and healthy cells unharmed. The aim of the research described in this thesis was to identify novel drug targets for targeted therapeutics. The tool applied to conduct this research was high-throughput RNAi screening. The validated hits of this screening approach might be distinct drug targets that are only toxic within a cancer-specific context.