Exam 1 Flashcards
Cancer definition
Uncontrolled cell growth and the abnormal spread of those cells
Causes of cancer
Internal- DNA mutation, hormones, genetics
External- chemicals, sunlight, viruses
VERY VARIED
Benign tumors
Abnormal growth
Cell growth slow, well differentiated and doesn’t invade or metastasize
Malignant (cancerous) tumors
- persistent proliferation (uncontrolled growth): population of cells growing at unregulated rate, loss of cells ability to differentiate into functional cells, inability of cells to die properly
- local invasive growth
- metastatic spread- lymphatic (lymph nodes, spleen) or hematologic (lungs, brain, liver, bone)
Cancer treatment strategies
Radiation therapy, surgery (biopsy, palliative, cure), chemotherapy (toxic to both cancer and healthy cells, dosed by BSA)
Fractional cell chemotherapy
Chemo kills the same percentage (not same number) of cells
Classifications of combination chemotherapy
Cytotoxic agents
Hormones
Hormone antagonists
*Can be cell cycle specific (effective during specific phase of cell) OR cell cycle NON-specific (effective during any stage of cell cycle)
Chemotherapy timing strategies
- avoid resistance: inherent (hard to treat); acquired after drug exposure (changes in cell, enzyme target, cell repair, uptake/excretion
- use a drug with a different cell cycle stage, mechanism, or site of action
- try to minimize overlapping toxicities
Examples of cell-cycle specific anti-neoplasm drugs
Methotrexate (S-phase) Vincristne (M-phase) Paclitaxel (M-phase) Hydroxyurea (S-phase) Bleomycin (G2-phase)
Examples of cell-cycle non-specific anti-neoplasm drugs
DNA alkylating agents- cyclophosphamide, melphalan, chlorambucil
Anthracycline antibiotics- doxorubicin, Texans
Corticosteroids- prednisone
Interferons- INF-alpha
Vascular epithelial growth factors (VEGF) antagonists- bevacizumab, sunitinib
Pharmacists role in oncology team
Dosing, chemo prep, pain control, personalized medicines
Education/drug info- patients and families
Monitoring- outcomes, side effects, complications, drug interactions
Preventions and early detection
Epigenetics definition
Study of heritable changes in gene function that don’t directly involve changes in the DNA sequence
Allele definition
Variant form of a location on a chromosome, often a variant of a specific gene
Chromosome definition
Chunk of the genome that encodes specific genes (chapter of book)
Halotype definition
Group of continuous alleles on a chromosome that are inherited together
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP’s)
Type of allele with variations in the nucleotide sequence at a specific position
Indels definition
Insertions/deletions of short sequences of nucleotides
Introns definition
Non coding regions- removed during sequencing
Exons define
Coding region- join together during sequencing
Untranslated regions (UTR’s)
Sections on each side of the coding sequence
-carry info on what to do with RNA
Promoter definition
Initiates transcription of gene (DNA to RNA)
CpG methylation
- most commonly studied epigenetic marker: methylation of cytosine
- clusters of CpG sites can be found in gene promoters and regulate expression
- site-specific dynamics: most stable, some changes in response to environment
Histone modifications
Characteristic signatures of promoters, enhancers, depressors found on modified residues of specific histone tails
Imprinting definition
Only one working copy of gene was inherited (instead of 2)