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"Molecular medicine is designed to predict the development of diseases"

Molecular medicine, which is called medicine of the future, is simultaneously a fundamentally different approach to the search for the causes of the disease and its prevention, and a new look at the old methods of treatment. The director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine of the First MIMU them was told about the possibilities of molecular medicine. THEM. Sechenova Professor Andrei Zamaynyne.

What is molecular medicine?

– Molecular medicine – the result of active involvement of the latest scientific achievements in clinical practice. As is known, the development of medicine began with observation and descriptions of diseases, the use of the first "empirical" drugs and the study of their benefits and harm. That is, the accumulation of a certain treatment experience occurred. In the 20th century, this process moved to a more scientific stage when attempts to study the effect of the methods of applied methods and treatments began. Already one could talk about obtaining relatively statistically reliable data. The next step was attempts to find disease development mechanisms.

A serious breakthrough occurred at the end of the XX century, when new directions of science began to actively form actively: biochemistry and molecular biology. The human body began to be considered as a certain interrelated mechanism at the molecular level. It turned out that with the development of a disease, molecular processes inherent in a healthy body undergo significant changes at the level of intermolecular interaction. Thus, an idea appeared to control molecular interactions in pathological changes, changing these interactions, which also deals with molecular medicine.

What is understood as the term "molecular markers" and what is their role in diagnosis and treatment?

– Pathological changes in the cell, ultimately, always lead to any disease. Therefore, it is so important to determine what exactly happened at the molecular level: which molecules and as changed. These molecules are determined by the term "molecular markers", which are identified at the level of genomic DNA, RNA and proteins, and, in fact, are markers of diseases. The search and study of the mechanism of action of these molecular markers and is the main task of molecular medicine.

To date, it is known that during the development of some disease, such as a certain protein may change, for example, certain molecules may appear or disappear. Using special methods aimed at detecting such molecules, we can with a high degree of probability to talk about the type of developing disease.At the same time, it is very important that changes at the molecular level often occur before the first symptoms of the disease occur. And this can be used both for early and for preventive (warning) diagnostics. For example, in the absence of complaints, the patient can already determine the risk of the appearance of a certain disease and the degree of danger, which means to prevent its development.

In particular, the presence of specific tumor markers may indicate the process of a nascent tumor, that is, even to any significant manifestations of a dangerous disease. With the help of molecular medicine methods, these markers can be detected, predict the risk and deadlines for the development of cancer and, therefore, take appropriate measures.

And how can molecular medicine help in this "wrestling"?

– If we talk about oncology, its fundamental problem is that tumor cells may occur in the body under the action of various (and not always obvious) factors. To date, traditional methods of treatment of cancer are surgery, chemo and radiation therapy, the main disadvantages of which are serious side effects. Therefore, in order to effectively deal with cancer, it is necessary to study than a specific tumor cell differs from a healthy cell of a particular person. Thus, molecular markers are revealed, which serve as peculiar signals "their own – someone else's" (healthy tumor cell cell).

And then the corresponding approaches to treatment are selected. For example, there are methods that, as it were, "force" the human immune system to recognize tumor cells as alien, and therefore adjust the body to independent struggle with them. And since each tumor has a certain location location, and it is important that the medicine can act directly on the affected cells, molecular markers can serve as peculiar targets when developing drugs.

Is this what is called "Targeted" drugs?

– Yes. Translated from the English language "Target" means "goal", "Target". From the point of view of modern approaches, any drug must be aimed at the impact on a certain molecular target. And such a target in many cases can be molecular markers. Another question is that drugs that seem to be aimed at a very specific target can also affect other cells with similar targets, which is why side effects arise. Therefore, it is important to find the most specific targets and conduct thorough research of the safety of drugs aimed ("targeted drugs).

Another problem in the development of directional drugs is the presence of protective "partitions" in the human body.These are cell membranes, and the blood-brain barrier, and immune-privileged zones (brain, nervous system, glands of the reproductive system, eyes). In such cases, it is important that the active substance of the drug, with the help of special “transporter” molecules, overcome such barriers and be able to act on target cells.

Are there any "non-cancer" molecular drugs?

– Of course they do. Absolutely any disease leads to changes at the molecular level, and, therefore, for each disease, molecular markers can be identified that will “tell” a lot about the disease, the degree and prognosis of its development. It is also possible to identify molecular targets, the impact on which will help correct pathologies, that is, embark on the path of cure. These are the main subjects of research for molecular medicine.

In addition, molecular medicine is, in many ways, a new look at previously used methods of treatment. For example, in China, programs are now underway to identify active substances from plants that have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. That is, if earlier herbal extracts were simply used, now the composition of these herbs is disassembled into molecules to identify the active substance, its mechanism of action and scope are determined. And in this example, herbs are not considered as a medicine, but as a source of medicinal substances in accordance with the principles of molecular medicine.