Figure 3.

Targeted components of the MAPK and AKT signaling cascades by small-molecule inhibitors in cancer. Effective targeting of the pathway intermediates is an efficient tactic in the case of constitutively activated signaling cascades, such as the MAPK pathway in cancer. Successful inhibition of a step in the cascade impairs the downstream progression of the pathway and its overall aberrant function. Combinations of inhibitors or multi-targeting molecules are being investigated, as they might provide more efficient manipulation of the entire signaling pathway. (MAPK: mitogen-activated protein kinase AKT: v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 1).