Cancer Pharmacology Flashcards
Adjuvant therapy
Eradicate residual cancer AFTER primary surgery
Neoadjuvant therapy
Shrink large, locally advanced disease to enable surgical resection
Induction therapy
The first treatment given for a disease
-aims to achieve a rapid reduction in tumor burden or disease activity
Consolidation therapy
Post-remission therapy to eradicate any remaining disease
Maintenance therapy
Administered to prevent cancer from recurring
Palliative therapy
Increase survival and improve quality of life by symptom control for advanced, incurable cancer
Cycle
A period of chemotherapy treatment followed by a period of rest (holiday)
What does the length of time between cycles depend on?
- May give therapy more frequently to enhance tumor effects BUT increases toxicity
- Balance with dose-limiting toxicities
- Also determined by pharmacokinetics of drugs
Alkylating agents
- MOA: Via crosslinking guanine in DNA double-helix strands
- DNA damage
- Ex: Cyclophosphamide
Antitumor Antibodies
- MOA: Via DNA intercalation
- DNA damage
- Ex: Anthracyclines (Doxorubicin - lymphoma, leukemia, breast, ovarian & Daunorubicin - leukemia), Bleomycin - lymphoma
Topoisomerase inhibitors
- Blocks DNA strand re-ligation during DNA synthesis
- DNA synthesis
- Ex: Irinotecan
Antimetabolites
- MOA: Are incorporated into DNA or RNA and inhibit nucleic acid synthesis
- DNA synthesis
- Ex: Folic acid, pyrimidine, or purine analogs - methotrexate, mercaptopurine, 5-FU
Microtubule inhibitors
- MOA: Inhibit tubulin polymerization or function
- Translation/cell division
- Ex: Paclitaxel
- Breast cancer
Nutrient deprivation
- MOA: Inhibition of protein synthesis
- Translation/cell division
- Ex: Asparaginase
Hormonal agents
- MOA: Receptor antagonist. Attenuating estrogen/androgen production (growth signal)
- Targeted therapies (“go” signals)
- Ex: Tamoxifen, degarelix
Epigenetic agents
-MOA:
* HDAC inhibitor - blocks deacetylation by HDAC and restores expression of tumor suppressor genes
* DNMT inhibitor - blocks methylation of promoters and restores expression of tumor suppressor genes
* Targeted signals (“go” signals)
* Ex: Vorinostat, azacitidine
Angiogenesis inhibitors
- Target VGEF secreted by cancer cells or VEGFR
- Ex: Carfilzomib
CDK4/6 inhibitors
- MOA: Prevents phosphorylation of Rb
- Ex: Ribociclib
PARP inhibitors
- MOA: Prevents double-stranded DNA damage repair in BRCA-deficient cells
- Ex: Olaparib
- Activated by DNA damage