Edmead Workshop Flashcards
What does Glivec target?
BCR-ABL
What are the future directions for cancer treatment? [4]
Protection against cancer.
Earlier detection
Safer treatments.
Turning cancer into a long term/chronic but manageable disease.
What was the first successful prophylactic vaccine for cancer?
The one for HPV for cervical cancer.
Now there is development of prohylactic vaccines for breast cancer esp for those with mutations in BRCA genes.
Why are large scale trials not occuring testing the efficacy of prophylactic vaccines against BRCA breast cancer, despite promising phase I + II results?
There is a fear of the development of autoimmunity against normal breast tissue.
How can bioinformatics be used in cancer treatment?
Involves individual genomic profiling.
Involves the detection of cancer during and after treatment.
Can build up databases of tumorigenic changes and responses and from this identify novel targets and predict the outcomes.
What can prostate cancer sometimes be diagnosed from?
Levels of PSA, but will not be above normal levels in ~20% of patients.
What is a way of diagnosising prostate cancer that is more specific than PSA levels?
DD3PCA3
Prostate specific.
Overexpressed 10-100 fold.
Other than PSA levels and DD3PCA3 levels, how else can prostate cancer be diagnosed? (Not from physical examination)
Urinalysis for RNA (RT-PCR)
Real time PCR.
P16 and _____ gene promoter methylation can be detected in blood, sputum and even _________ ______.
P16 and MGMT gene promoter methylation can be detected in blood, sputum and even exhaled breath.
An example of epigenetic changes.
How does pharmacogenomics relate to cancer treatment?
Each person has an individual variation with regard to their levels of gene expression.
Iressa is only effective in 10% of patients who have a mutation in EGFR.
How does Iressa work?
Inhibits EGFR receptor.
Gefitinib is an EGFR inhibitor, like erlotinib, which interrupts signaling through the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in target cells.
How are advances in imaging techniques impacting cancer treatment?
Getting more and more advanced. Allowing us to look at receptor/gene expression at the molecular level etc.
What is the most promising detection advancement for cancer detection?
microarrays
Why was the DNA microarray developed?
To allow the measurement of gene expression via mRNA abundance.
10,000 genes analysed simultaneously.
How can DNA microarrays anaylse complex RNA and DNA mixtures?
In parallel and quantitative fashion.
It is a link between genomics and proteomics.
