[The signal transduction pathway of multi-target kinase inhibitors as anticancer agents in clinical use or in phase III].

Signal transduction in cells plays an important role in the process of cellular metabolism, segmentation, differentiation, biological behaviors and cell death. Direct and indirect involvement of kinases in tumor growth, metastasis and apoptosis make them the most promising targets for anticancer discovery. Most of the kinase inhibitors in clinical use or in late development stages are multi-target kinase inhibitors (MTKIs). These MTKIs are demonstrated to exert potent anti-tumor effects through several different pathways. This review presents in the view of a medicinal chemistry point, a brief account and analysis of transduction pathways of representative MTKIs in clinical use or in late development stages.