Biological & Hormonal Therapy

Question 1

What is meant by biological therapy in oncology?

Answer 1

• Biological therapy for cancer is a type of treatment that uses the body’s immune system to kill cancer cells.
• Treatment is increasingly being ‘personalised’ to the patient’s own tumour
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Question 2

How does hormonal therapy work for cancer treatment?

Answer 2

• Some cancers are “hormone dependent” =rate of growth influence by levels of hormones
• interfering with those hormone may lead to growth arres or tumour regression
• Hormonal treatments used to
  
  • shrink primary tumours before or instead of surgery
  • prevent or elay growth or micro metasases following surgery
  • shrink established metastases and improve quality and duration of life

Question 3

Which cancers do we ude hormonal treatment for?

Answer 3

• Cancers that are commonly hormone sensityive are those arising within tissues under hromonal control
• Prostate, breast, endometrium and lymphocytic malignancies i.e. lymphoma, leukaemia and myeloma

Question 4

What is the most direct form of hormone therapy?

Answer 4

• Rempving the source of growth-promoting hormone
• Examples include bilateral oophorectomy in premenopausal women and bilateral orchidectomy in men

Question 5

What are hormone inhibitors? Their use in cancer treatment. What is the best known?

Answer 5

• Uses drugs that block the binding of hormone to their receptors in tumour cells
• Best know is tamoxifen that act as an anti-oestrogen

Question 6

When is increasing hormones used as a cancer treatment? Example

Answer 6

• Glucocorticoids in high cocnentration induce apoptosis in some malignant lymphoid cells, and form a important component of treatments for lymphoid leukaemias, lymphomas, myeloma and Hodgkin’s Disease
• Can be used in certain sex-hromone sensitive cancers with the aim of inducing negative feedback loops