Cancer Therapy

Question 1

Give 2 examples of Chemotherapy drugs.

Answer 1

Agents that damage DNA e.g. cisplatin.
Agents that target tubulin e.g. taxanes including paclitaxel (stabilise microtubules - components of the cytoskeleton involved in mitosis)
Antimetabolites e.g. 5FU (pyrimidine analogue)

Question 2

State an example of a non-cytotoxic therapy.

Answer 2

Inhibitors of tyrosine kinase (small molecule competitive inhibitors). Monoclonal antibody. to cell surface proteins. Immunotherapies e.g. immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Question 3

What does a tyrosine kinase inhibitor do?

Answer 3

Targets the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) - overexpression leads to mutation and cancer.

Question 4

State an example of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

Answer 4

Gefitinib. Erlotinib. Sorafenib. Dasatinib.

Question 5

State an example of an immunotherapy drug.

Answer 5

Atezolizumab. Avelumab. Rivolumab. Pembrolizumab.

Question 6

State how an immunotherapy drug works.

Answer 6

T cell expresses PD-1 (programmed death) binds to PD-1 ligand on tumour cell to block T cell activation.