Cancer Chemotherapy Flashcards
where did chemo come from? what was the first chemo agent?
why was it used?
Mustard gas
Used in WW1 and WW2
(caused a drop in their white cell count)
what is mustard gas used for?
to treat leukemia’s and lymphomas
what is Chemotherapy?
is a cancer treatment where medication is used to kill cancer cells,
They stop cancer cells reproducing, which prevents them from growing and spreading in the body.
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with drug therapy – traditionally this applies to cytotoxic drugs
DNA replication process
STRUCTURE OF DNA
Nucleotide = sugar- phosphate-base
what r the purines? pyramidines?
what value of cancer cells, if reached, u cannot treat anymore?
1012
at which point of the cell cycle r the cancer cells at the DORMANT PHASE?
why is this signifcant to know
G0
cuz neither chemotherpay nor radiotherapy will work!
we can use drugs that actually enhance the # of cells so theyre actually IN the cycle>> therefore we can kill them yaaas
why do we not give patients chemotherapy continuously?
explain why TIMING of the pulses of chemo is very crucial!
Understand the concept of the fractional kill ratio in chemotherapy
no, we give them “pulses of chemotherpay”
listen alaa….when u give chemotherpay, u have both reduction in the number of bone marrow cells & tumor cells,
7lu? ok….
BM cells will recover more quicker and more effectively than ur tumor cells, so what u have to do is u have to give ur chemotherapy AGAIN at the time where the BM cells have recovered
overall u’ll see theres a depletion in the # of BM cells and u’ll see that patients towards the end of their treatment start to have more problems w/ their blood count bc the BM is not recovering adequetly, but overall, it will recover better than the tumor cells.
and so the TIMING of the pulses of chemo is very crucial!
what happens if u delay or quicken the timing of the pulses in chemo?
DELAY>> the tumor cells can bounce back in btw
QUICKLY>> can die from problems associated w/ depletion of the BM cells!
Ex: neutropenic sepsis
not all tumors r sensitive to chemotherapy, outline the tumor classes that r sensitive to chemotherapy!
main cytotoxic chemotherapeutic groups and actions at their targets (brief) (4)
- antimetabolites
- Alkylating agents>> works on DNA
- intercalating agents >> works on DNA
- spindle poisons (Mitotic Inhibitors )
Alkylating Agents —–> Mechanism of Action
work like a KEY
forms _bonds_ btw the 2 DNA strands locking them togezer, no replication fork can be made> cell dies via apoptosis!
what is the the major cause of resistence to chemotherapy agents?
bc as busy as we r trying to cause these breaks in our DNA, we’ve got repair mechanisms that r recongzing these bonds and removing them!
so what can be done to prevent that DNA repair process?
we use biologial agents in combination w/ chemo
Antimetabolites——–> Mechanism of Action/ drug names
Microtubule-binding agents affect microtubule dynamics in 2 ways:
– Inhibit polymerization
– Stimulate polymerization and prevent depolymerization