7.7 Cancer Therapy and Alternative Genetic Therapy Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

What are the most common treatments for cancers?

A

chemotherapy
radiation therapy

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What is the basic mechanism of chemotherapy and radiation therapy?

A

preferentially target quickly growing cancer cells

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What is the function of antihormone treatments for genitcal cancers?

A

block hormone dependent signaling pathways that tumors rely on

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is the general function of most chemotherapies?

A

bind to DNA and RNA to interfere with replication and transcription

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is the general function of radiation therapy?

A

inducing DNA single stranded and double stranded breaks leading to cell death

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What are the main radiation therapies?

A

X-rays
Gamma-rays
neutron beams

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Why do cancer treatments have a lot of side effects?

A

they also damage normal cells in the process

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What healthy cells do chemotherapies typically attack and why?

A

epithelial, immune system, and Gi tract cells because chemotherapy targets quickly dividing cells

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What are suicide genes?

A

genes that insert specifically into cancer cells to cause self-destruction

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is the purpose of trying to use genes that regulate angiogenesis as gene therapies?

A

cancer cells have a profound blood supply and genes that could disrupt angiogenesis could starve cancer cells

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is the biggest conundrum of gene therapy?

A

how to deliver it

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

How has gene therapy been delivered to a patient?

A

using a virus vector

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is controversial about gene therapy?

A

it is irreversible

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is epigenetics?

A

study of mechanisms that cause modifications to gene expressions that do not depend on the changes in the DNA sequence

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is the epigenome?

A

any epigenetic modifications to the genome that are present in a cell at any given time

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What does it mean that cancer cells are marked by a global hypomethylation of genes?

A

there is a lack of methylation meaning there is genomic instability and underlying chromosomal changes

17
Q

What does hypermethylation in some cancer genes cause?

A

inactivates certain genes

18
Q

What is a common modification in cancer cells?

A

change in the pattern of chromatin remodelling

19
Q

What is a result of histone acetylation in cancer cells?

A

reduction in the ability of a histone to associate with DNA allowing the transcription of gene products

20
Q

What is a result of histone deactylation in cancer cells?

A

histones are able to associate with DNA causing some genes to not be transcribed