Increasing research evidence reveals that cancer is complex disease involving many biological factors, processes and systems, which may severely limit the actual efficacy of conventional monotonic anticancer approaches. To overcome these obstacles in cancer treatment, a new strategy has been proposed by combining multiple synergistic therapeutic modalities accessing different but inherently related targets and acting sequentially. A major benefit of this strategy is that the multi-target mechanism could result in a cascade-amplification effect leading to enhanced anticancer activity. In this review, we provide a critical discussion on the application of cascade-amplification strategy in the treatment of various cancer indications, focusing on the rational combination of therapeutic agents and their mechanisms of action. A concise yet comprehensive analysis on the potential therapeutic benefit of this strategy was also included. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease.

中文翻译：

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级联放大疗效：癌症治疗中的新兴机会。

越来越多的研究证据表明，癌症是一种涉及许多生物学因素，过程和系统的复杂疾病，可能会严重限制传统单调抗癌方法的实际疗效。为了克服癌症治疗中的这些障碍，已经提出了一种新策略，该策略通过组合访问不同但与内在相关的靶标并顺序起作用的多种协同治疗方式来进行治疗。该策略的主要优点是多靶点机制可能导致级联扩增效应，从而增强抗癌活性。在这篇综述中，我们对级联扩增策略在各种癌症适应症治疗中的应用进行了批判性讨论，重点是治疗药物的合理组合及其作用机理。还对该策略的潜在治疗益处进行了简要而全面的分析。本文归类于：治疗方法和药物发现>用于肿瘤疾病的纳米药物。