B6: Preventing And Treating Disease 💉 Flashcards
What do memory cells do?
They remember the right antibody needed to destroy a particular pathogen.
What does immunisation involve?
Giving you a vaccine made of a dead or inactivated form of a disease-causing microorganism.
Give two examples of PAIN KILLERS.
Aspirin or paracetamol
What do antiseptics and disinfectants do?
Kill bacteria outside the body.
What are antibiotics?
Medicines that work inside your body to kill bacterial pathogens.
Name an antibiotic.
Penicillin
What are two problems surrounding antibiotics?
They can’t kill viral pathogens (they have no effects on viruses).
Strains of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics are evolving.
Who discovered penicillin?
Alexander Fleming.
Name four qualities of a good medicine.
Safe
Stable
Effective
Successfully taken into and out of the body.
What is stage 1 of developing drugs?
Preclinical trials: testing on single human cells, then larger human cells and finally whole animals.
What is stage 2 of developing drugs?
Clinical trials (on healthy people): giving low doses to healthy people, confirming it reaches target cells and observing dangerous side effects.
What is stage 3 of developing drugs?
Clinical trials (on ill people): starts with small numbers, testing a range of doses and testing larger groups of people.
Drugs will fail stage 1 if they:
Aren’t effective, aren’t safe, don’t reach target cells or have dangerous side effects.
Drugs will fail stage 2 if they:
Have dangerous side effects or don’t reach the cells they need to.
Drugs will fail stage 3 if they:
Do not work or have dangerous side effects.
What is a double blind trial?
Where some patients are given a placebo. Some are given the drug and some are not.
What are monoclonal antibodies?
Antibodies produced from a single clone of cells.
What are lymphocytes?
White blood cells capable of producing antibodies
What are antibodies?
Proteins with a specific shape which can bind to antigens
Can lymphocytes divide?
No
What is a hybridoma?
Mice lymphocytes that have been combined with a type of tumour cell
What can monoclonal antibodies be used for?
To trigger the immune system to recognise, attack and destroy cancer cells.
Block receptors on the surface of cancer cells.
Carry toxic drugs or radioactive substances for radiation therapy.
