Potential Drug-Drug Interactions With Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors

Abstract

There has been great progress in the treatment of tumors in recent years due to the introduction of new pharmacological approaches such as targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Targeted therapy is associated with suppressing the activity of specific targeting molecules in the cancer cells necessary for their growth, differentiation and survival. Of particular interest are tyrosine kinase inhibitors, proteins that play a major role in cell signaling, since overexpression or mutant forms of a large number of tyrosine kinases have been found in multiple tumors. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors block the activity of tyrosine kinases and disrupt intracellular signal transduction, thereby inhibiting the growth and development of cancer cells. Treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors is well tolerated and one of the main problems with their administration is the increased risk of drug interactions when co-administered with other drugs.
This review describes the potential drug-drug interactions that may occur during the treatment with certain tyrosine kinase inhibitors (ALK inhibitors, TRK inhibitors, EGFR inhibitors, FGFR inhibitors) used to treat rare and aggressive tumors. Careful selection of drugs that are co-administered with tyrosine kinase inhibitors is needed in order to avoid changes in their plasma concentrations that may lead to changes in their therapeutic and toxic effects.