Chemotherapy Flashcards
What is the leading cause of death in Canada?
Cancer (1/4)
Approx. how many types of cancer are there?
Over 100
What is cancer?
Abnormal cell growth w/ potential to spread to other parts of body (metastasis)
What are 4 environmental factors assoc w/ cancer? And genetic factor?
Tobacco, ionizing radiation, enviro pollution (asbestos, radon), viral infections (HIV, HPV); BRCA 1 in breast cancer (incr risk of getting cancer vs wo/ gene)
What fundamentally causes cancer?
Mutations in genes that regulate cell growth
What are the 4 phases of and their purpose in the cell cycle? Extra phase?
G1: checkpoint to ensure cell is ready for DNA synth (40%)
S: DNA synth (39%)
G2: checkpoint to ensure cell is ready for mitosis(19%)
M: mitosis (2%)
G0: quiescent state
What are the 2 types of genes important for regulation of the cell cycle?
Tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes
What are tumour suppression genes?
Repress cell cycle or promote apoptosis when mutation is detected
What 3 ways can tumour suppressor genes inhibit cell cycle/promote apoptosis?
- Inhibit cell cycle
- Initiate apoptosis after permanent DNA damage
- DNA repair proteins (BRCA)
What is p53?
Tumour suppressor protein that regulates cell cycle (mutated in 50% of tumours)
What are proto-oncogenes?
Normal genes involved in cell growth/proliferation and inhibition of apoptosis
What can cause proto-oncogenes to become oncogenes (incr expression)?
Mutations
What 2 mutations can convert proto-oncogenes to oncogenes?
Point mutations: small scale index’s that affect its expression
Chromosomal translocation: 2 separate chromosomal regions become abnormally fused
What is the Philadelphia chr? What is it an ex of?
Specific genetic abnormality in chr 22 (fused w/ chr 9) found in leukaemia cancer cells; chromosomal translocation
What causes the mutated chr 22 in Philadelphia chr? And result?
Region on chr 9 that encodes gene ABL is susceptible to breakage and combines w/ broken region on chr 22 that encodes for gene BCR creating BCR-ABL gene
What does the BCR-ABL gene cause?
Unregulated expression of tyrosine kinase activity leading to unregulated cell cycle/division
T/f: usually >1 oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes are mutated to cause cancer
True, can occur sequentially
1/3 of cancer patients are treated how?
Local treatment strategies (surgery or radiotherapy)
How are other cancer cases treated (not surgery/radiotherapy)? When are they used?
Systemic approaches w/ anti-cancer drugs; metastasis
What % of cancer patients can be cured w/ anti-cancer drugs when diagnosed at advanced stages?
10% (incr w/ combo of surgery and radiation)
what do anti-cancer drugs do?
Interfere w/ cell cycle (can target specific phases or be cytotoxic at all phases)
What makes tumour cells more susceptible to anti-cancer drugs that target S and M phases?
Tumour cells usually have more proliferating cells vs normal
What 3 normal tissues that proliferate rapidly are susceptible to damage from cytotoxic drugs?
Bone marrow, hair follicles, intestinal epithelium
T/f: most medications have a narrower TI and incr potential for harmful effects that anti-cancer drugs
False, anti-cancer drugs have a very narrow TI and high potential for severe side effects
What are 3 types of anti-cancer drugs?
DNA synthesis inhibitors, natural products, miscellaneous
What are 4 ex of DNA synthesis inhibitors?
Pyrimidine analogues, purine analogues, alkylation agents, anti-folates
What are the 2 purine vs 2 pyrimidines in DNA and RNA replacement?
Purines: adenine and guanine
Pyrimidines: cytosine and thymine (uracil in RNA)
What do pyrimidine analogues compete for?
Thymidylate synthase (TS) enzymes w/ normal pyrimidine precursors
What conversion does TS coordinate?
dUMP (deoxy-uracil monophos) to dTMP (deoxy-thymine monophos) via methylation
What is an ex of a pyrimidine analogue?
5-fluorouracil (5-FU)