Several new targets of antitumor agents.

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), as a hepatoma-promoting factor, has become a new target of anti-hepatoma agents. It is a new approach for the treatment of tumors to inhibit or block oncogene expression. Informational drugs are being developed for gene therapy applications as inhibitors of oncogene expression. The induction of tumor cell differentiation is another new strategy of drug therapy of tumors. Common action mode of many antitumor drugs is to induce apoptosis of tumor cells. Suicide genes, as targeting therapy of tumors, improve the present chemotherapy, exhibiting broad application prospects.