Case 6 definitions

Question 1

target therapy

Answer 1

a cancer treatment that uses drugs to target the cancers specific genes, proteins, or the tissue environment that contributes to the cancers growth and survival

Question 2

target therapy works by

Answer 2

blocking or turning off chemical signals that trigger growth and division
changing proteins inside the cancer cells
stop making new blood vessels that provide nutrition
trigger your immune system to attack cancer cells
carry toxins to the caner cells to kill specific cells

Question 3

monoclonal antibodies

Answer 3

highly specific antibodies that recognize only one antigenic determinant or receptor site
can be naked or conjugated

Question 4

ADEPT

Answer 4

antibody directed enzyme prodrug therapy

mAb that targets the tumor site is conjugated with an enzyme that activates a prodrug

Question 5

Immunotherapy

Answer 5

cancer vaccines that initiate an immune response to cancer cells
virotherapy/ oncolytic virus therapy
CAR T-cells
mAbs as immune checkpoint inhibitors
gene therapy

Question 6

Herceptin

Answer 6

naked mAb

selectively targets the EC domain of the HER2 protein that is over-expressed in 10 to 100 fold by certain cancer cells

Question 7

Zevalin

Answer 7

radiolabeled mAb
carries radioactive yttrium-90 and binds to the CD20 antigen which is found on more than 90% of B cell lymphomas (non-hodgkins)

Question 8

Adcetris

Answer 8

chemolabeled
carries the cytotoxic chemotherapy drug MMAE
and binds to CD30 antigen on lymphocytes
hodgkins lymphoma
once the mAb binds the cancer cell internalizes the mAb and MMAE is released
MMAE binds to tubulin disrupting the microtubule network and arresting the cell cycle causing apoptosis

Question 9

ADEPT works by

Answer 9

patient is dosed with mAbs
patient is given prodrug via IV infusion
prodrug encounters enzyme on mAbs that are bound to receptors on the cancer cells
prodrug is activated into its cytotoxic form
active drug can diffuse into tumor cells
bystander effect adds to therapies potency: nearby non-dividing / non expressing tumor cells can also be effected
by concentrating the cytotoxic drug to the area immediately around the cancer cells, damage to the noncancerous cells is limited

Question 10

Cancer vaccines

Answer 10

patients immune cells are stimulated outside the body to become antigen presenting cells
APCs are then infused into the patient
APCs activate T cells in the body to target cancer cells

Question 11

virotherapy

Answer 11

a virus is engineered to selectively replicate in tumor cells only is injected into a tumor
Tumor lysis also results in the release of antigens that activate the immune response.
oncolytic viruses can also be engineered to produce molecules such as GM-CSF to further stimulate the immune system

Question 12

CAR T-cells

Answer 12

a patients t cells are harvested and exposed to a viral vector that will insert a gene encoding for a specific antigen to be produced on cell surface receptors - chimeric antigen receptors or CARs that are specific to a protein on tumor cells; cells are replicated and then infused back into the patient where they will specifically target the cancer cells

Question 13

immune checkpoint mAbs

Answer 13

target antigens on tumor cells that tell the Tcell that they are normal cells; block the inhibition of Tcells so that they will recognize and kill the cancer cells