Anticancer Drugs 1 Flashcards
What are the four basic categories of anticancer drugs?
1) Targeted drugs- drugs that interact with one of a number of cell surface receptors or their associated tyrosine kinases or by blocking a downstream effector molecule for cell growth, mTOR.
2) action on mitotic spindle
3) Action on DNA
a) Existing DNA- alkylating agents/free radical damage
b) DNA synthesis inhibitors (antimetabolites)
What is the difference between the mechanisms of older drugs and newer ones, typically?
Whereas older drugs are designed to kill the tumor cell, many of the newer agents are designed not to kill the tumor, but to control its growth, thereby making the cancer a lifelong but manageable disease.
Most cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs have adverse effects upon rapidly proliferating cell populations. What are the common side effects?
Myesuppression (blood and bone marrow), hair loss, and GI pain
What is the (very) basic basis of vomiting?
the stimulus for nausea and vomiting can arise either from detection of the drug at the base of the fourth ventricle, by the so-called “chemo trigger zone” (where there is an absence in the BBB), within the gastrointestinal tract itself, and finally through higher order cortical input, relaying the psychological aspects of impending chemotherapy.
The most effective way of curing a patient of a solid tumor is to _____.
surgically excise it. Radiation is also used for tumors that cannot be removed because of difficult anatomical location.
If chemotherapy is used before the other modalities (surgery, radiation) it is called _____.
neo-adjuvant treatment. If used after, it is simply termed adjuvant
Chemotherapy is the main treatment modality in what cancers?
systemic disease, i.e. blood cancers or metastases
How is a patient’s response to cancer therapy evaluated?
CAT & PET scans and MRIs are used extensively, as are tumor specific markers. In some instances the resolution of associated symptoms, e.g., abdominal ascites, may be used as evidence of activity.
This can sometimes be used as justification for drug use in a patient with late stage disease, i.e., as a palliative treatment.
In contrast, the appearance of secondary malignancy, organ toxicity and sterility all indicate a failure of the regimen.
What is Tumor Lysis Syndrome (TLS)?
The intent of treatment is to kill the tumor, unfortunately when one does this the tumor cells lyse their contents into the bloodstream and thence they find their way to the kidney, where organ damage can occur. Patients receiving chemotherapy of large tumors or blood cancers receive prophylaxis of renal damage with the treatment indicated.
also see hypercalcemia and hyperkalemia leading to heart arrhythmia
How can renal function be protected in tumor patients with TLS?
The main culprit of TLS is uric acid, which forms from xanthine via xanthine oxidase. The drug Allopurinol (PO) targets xanthine oxidase
Also, a drug called Rasburicase (IV) can be used to speed the conversion of insoluble uric acid to soluble allantoin, which produces less renal damage
What are the main classes of alkylating agents used in cancer treatment?
Nitrogen mustards, alkyl sulfanotes, nitrsoureas, triazenes, hydrazines, and platinum drugs
What is a constant structural component of all alkylating drugs?
the chloroethyl function- the active part of the molecule. This is the part of the drug that actually attached to the DNA.
What is the alkylating drug Busulfan used to treat?
CML
What is unique about the structure of Busulfan?
the drug attaches to DNA via sulfur moieties, not via the choloethyl group
What is the alkylating drug cyclophosphamide used to treat?
ALL, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)
type of nitrogen mustard
How is cyclophosphamide activated?
In order to become an effective anticancer drug it must first be converted by hepatic microsomal enzymes to a 4-hydroxy metabolite which exists in equilibrium with another product, aldophosphamide. These active metabolites are delivered to tumor and normal tissue where non-enzymatic cleavage of aldophosphamide to the cytotoxic forms of phosphoramide mustard and acrolein occurs. The liver itself seems protected by further conversion of the 4-OH metabolite to a 4-keto, inactive product.
What are the members of the Bis(chlorophyl)amine alkylating agents?
cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, mechloroethamine, melphalan, chlormabucil
How do alkylating agent produce their cytotoxic effect?
by transferring an alkyl moiety on to DNA.
What is the most common attach site on DNA by alkylating agents?
N7 of guanine. Once the initial attachment is made, the alkylating agent may go on to attach the second alkyl moiety to the same DNA strand (intrastrand linkage) or to the complementary strand (DNA cross-linking).
What is a common side effect of alkylating agents given via IV?
damage to the lining of the blood vessels (a vesicant action)
most intense is mechloroethamine
What is an alkylating agent that can be given orally, thus avoiding damage to blood vessel linings.
Cyclophosphamides
Common side effects of cyclophosphamide?
congestive heart failure (short term Cardiotoxicity)