Cancer Chemotherapy Overview - Ch 101-103 Flashcards
What is Cancer?
- Cellular transformation (loss of function)
- Uncontrolled and/or rapid cellular growth
- Invasion into surrounding tissue
- Metastasis to other tissues or organs
-by blood or lymphatic system
Where can cancer develop?
Virtually any of the body’s tissues
-Categorized by organ origin or original cell type
What contribute to cancer development?
Hereditary and environmental factors
Neoplasm
“new Tissue”
Mass of new cells; tumour
Benign
NON-cancerous
=Non-invasive + non-metastatic
Malignant
Cancer
-Malignant neoplasm
Primary lesion
Original site of growth
Matastasis
Secondary lesion in a new, remote part of the body
How does Chemotherapy kill cells?
Affects cell division/growth
-Not on loss of function, invasiveness or metastasis
What kind of therapeutic index do chemotherapy drugs have?
Narrow therapeutic index
-ratio between concentration of drug that has
toxic effect and therapeutic effect is small
What may develop with chemotherapy?
Drug resistance
What are some Cytotoxic chemotherapy drug groups?
Alkylating agents and platinum compoud
Antimetabolite drugs
Antitumour antibiotics
How are alkylating agents and platinum compounds cytotoxic?
Drugs form chemical bonds to DNA thus prevent DNA replication and cause cell death
How are antimetabolite drugs cytotoxic?
Prevent synthesis of metabolites required for growth
How are antitumour antibiotics (not for infections) cytotoxic?
Distort DNA structure
What are cytotoxic drugs harmful to?
All dividing cells (cancerous cells) AND to healthy normal cells
-hair cells, GI cells, bone marrow cells
What do nearly all cytotoxic drugs cause?
Significant adverse effects
What adverse effects are associated with cytotoxic drugs?
Severe vomiting, nausea
Diarrhea, oral ulcers (GI mucosa damage)
Bone marrow suppression
What can bone marrow suppression lead to?
Infection risk (neutropenia)
Bleeding risk (loss of circulating platelets)
Anemia
Dose-limiting adverse effects may prevent what?
Drug being administered in high enough doses to actually kill cancer cells
What is used to avoid chemo drug resistance/increased effectiveness?
Multiple drug therapy
What other drugs (not cancer chemotherapy) are used in cancer treatment?
Hormones
Hormone antagonists
Biologic response modifiers e.g immunotherapy
Targeted drugs
Targeted drugs
Bind to cancer-promoting molecules
What are other cancer treatments?
Surgery (remove cancer tissue)
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy
High energy radiation damages cancer cell DNA causing it to die
-external radiation beam source
-internal source implanted into/near cancer
