Chemotherapy Flashcards
What are some of the difficulties with chemotherapy drugs?
- 99.9% killed but 0.1% left still contains a lot of cells
- no immune back up
- PK not well known with animals
- small therapeutic window (small margin of safety)
- dose based on SA not BW (correlated with metabolic weight), hard to measure
- can develope resistance (multidrug protocol)
What is the hardest part for clients to deal with and why is it important for them to understand?
adverse events are severe and very demanding, often clients dont want to deal with
think quality vs quantity of life
What are the three classes of Chemo drugs?
cycle non-specific: kills at all phases
cycle specific: spare resting cells (G0)
Phase specific: only specific phases
What is MOA of alkylating agents (nitrogen mustards) used for chemo?
binding of DNA bases, cross linking dsDNA = abnormal pairing and misreading, no replication = cell death
Cell cycle non-specific
toxic to rapidly growing cells
What are two alkylating agents drugs (nitrogen mustards)?
cyclophosphamide (procytox)
chlorambucil (leukeran)
What is cyclophosphamide used for, AE, and important things to know?
used for: carcinomas, sarcomas, feline lymphoproliferative diseases, mammary carcinomas, lymphoma
AE: bone marrow toxicity (leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, cat marrow suppression), vomiting, diarrhea hemorrhagic cycstitis (minimize with furosemide), alopecia
Its a prodrug: need hepatic function
What is the use of Chlorambucil (leukeran)?
similar to cyclophosphamide
less potent (decreased myelosuppresion, vomitting
expensive (cats and dogs)
used for immunosuppresive for cats after predisone
What is the MOA of alkylating agents (nitrosoureas)?
also cross link DNA
What is one used nitrosourea? its use and AE?
CCNU (lomustine)
- great oral F
use: crosses BBB (brain tumors), lymphoma and mast cell tumours
AE: leukopenia, thrombocytopenia
What is a nitrosourea used for insulinomas?
streoptozocin (Zanosar)
- toxic to pancreatic B-cells
AE: tubular necrosis (use only with IV diruesis), type 1 diabetes, vomiting in dogs
What is the mechanism of action of platinum based chemotherapy drugs?
binds to DNA bases cross linking around the platinum ion rather than alkyl group, therefor inhibiting DNA synthesis
What are two platinum based drugs?
Cisplatin (platinol)
Carboplatin (paraplatin)
What is the USE and AE of Cisplatin?
USE: solid tumors (osetosarcoma, carcinoma, mast cell tumors, skin tumors in horses (sarcoids)
- multimodal with surgery or amputation
AE: nephrotoxicity, fatal pulmonary edema in cats, vomiting and diarrhea
Which animal should not be given cisplatin for chemotherapy?
Cats
- fatal pulmonary edema
What is the comparison of carboplatin to cisplatin?
less nephrotoxic than cisplatin
carboplatin causes thrombocytopenia
safe for cats
What is a conjunctive therapy used for osteosarcoma that is not a chemo drug?
Bisphosphonates
Drug: pamidronate