DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid, usually in the form of a double helix that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life.

RNA: Ribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid polymer. It is transcribed from DNA by enzymes called RNA polymerases and further processed by other enzymes. RNA serves as the template for translation of genes into proteins, transferring amino acids to the ribosome to form proteins, and also translating the transcript into proteins.

Radiotherapy: Radiation therapy (or radiotherapy) is the medical use of ionizing radiation as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells. Radiotherapy may be used for curative or adjuvant cancer treatment. Radiotherapy is commonly used for the treatment of malignant tumors. It may be used as the primary therapy. It is also common to combine radiotherapy with surgery and/or chemotherapy and/or hormone therapy. Most common cancer types can be treated with radiotherapy in some way. The precise treatment intent (radical, adjuvant, or palliative) will depend on the tumour type, location, and stage, as well as the general health of the patient.

Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy is the use of chemical substances to treat disease. In its modern-day use, it refers primarily to cytotoxic drugs used to treat cancer. The rationale for using chemotherapy to treat cancer was the observation that cancer cells replicated much more quickly than most cells in the body. Chemicals that were toxic to these rapidly dividing cells, mostly agents that interfered with the process of DNA replication were able to destroy cancer cells. However, these chemicals were toxic to normal cells that had rapid rates of division as well.

Molecular therapy: The progress of Molecular biology enabled the study of cancer to be pursued at the molecular and genetic level which provides evidence of the connection among normal cell cycle control pathways, cell suicide mechanisms and a host of growth factors. Proteins within these pathways already have been identified as potential targets for therapeutic intervention and there is ongoing effort around the world to further define the molecular basis of cancer and identify additional therapeutic targets. In theory, targeted, biologic-based therapeutics have the potential to inhibit the growth of cancer, without causing many of the side effects associated with chemotherapy.

The most advanced molecular therapies currently available in cancer treatments are: monoclonal antibodies targeting the cell membrane receptors, inhibitors of tyrosine kinase receptor or other kinases involved in signal transduction for cell proliferation, pro-apoptotic and immunostimulating agents. As they are basically cytostatic agents, their monotherapy regimen is rarely of sufficient clinical benefit. Synergistic outcomes are often obtained by their combination with chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Monoclonal antibody: Monoclonal antibodies are antibodies that are identical because they were produced by one type of immune cell, all clones of a single parent cell. Given (almost) any substance, it is possible to create monoclonal antibodies that specifically bind to that substance; they can then serve to detect or purify that substance. This has become an important tool in biochemistry, molecular biology and medicine.

siRNA: Small interfering RNA, are a class of 20-25 nucleotide-long double stranded RNA that play a variety of roles in biology. Most notably, this is the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway where the siRNA interferes with the expression of a specific gene. siRNAs also play additional roles in RNAi-related pathways. The complexity of these pathways is only now being elucidated. siRNA is an efficient tool for gene silencing, useful for biomedical research and drug development.

siDNA: Signal interfering DNA, a concept/technology, consists of a pathway-targeted/mechanism-oriented approach involving the metabolism and the repair processes of DNA by using a DNA substrate mimics as bait. Therefore, this is basically a multi-protein targeting, instead of targeting a key protein whatever its biological relevance.

DSB: Double strand break, the most lethal damage of DNA if left unrepaired on time.

Dbait: Dbait stands for DSB bait, is the first lead molecule specifically designed and selected according to siDNA concept to inhibit DSB repair.

NHEJ: Two main DNA repair pathways rescue DSBs, homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), with NHEJ being the most important in mammalian cells. NHEJ proteins catalyse repair of DSBs by joining together and ligating two free DNA ends of little homology (microhomology) or no homology at all. The core components of mammalian NHEJ are the catalytic subunit of DNA protein kinase (DNA-PKcs), Ku subunits Ku70 and Ku80, Artemis, Cerunnos, XRCC4 and DNA ligase IV.

Biomarker: Traditional clinical trial endpoints, such as free disease progression/survival, may be subjective, difficult to evaluate, or require a long timeframe. Biomarkers in imaging or tissue samples may, in many instances, provide objective endpoints that may be confidently evaluated in a reasonable timeframe. Biomarkers can be anatomic, physiologic, biochemical, or molecular parameters associated with the presence and severity of specific disease states. Biomarkers are detectable and measurable by a variety of methods including physical examination, laboratory assays and medical imaging.