Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

PMCOL 200 > Lecture 31 - Chemotherapy > Flashcards

Lecture 31 - Chemotherapy Flashcards

1
Q

how many death in Canada are caused by cancer?

A

1 in 4 (leading cause of death)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

how many types of cancer are there?

A

over 100

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

cancer is characterized by:

A

abnormal cell growth with the potential to spread to other parts of the body (metastasis)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

what is cancer?

A

a disease of cell growth regulation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

when does cancer arise?

A

when genes that regulate cell growth are mutated

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

what do tumor suppressor genes (and the proteins they encode) do?

A

repress the cell cycle or promote apoptosis

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

what are the three major functions of tumor suppressor genes?

A
  • inhibit cell division
  • initiate apoptosis following irreversible DNA damage
  • DNA repair proteins (BRCA)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

what is p53?

A

a tumor suppressor protein that regulates the cell cycle (mutated in 50% of all tumors)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

mutated forms of proto-oncogenes that cause normal cells to grow out of control and become cancer cells

A

oncogenes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

the genes that normally control how often a cell divides and the degree to which it differentiates or specializes

A

proto-oncogenes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

when a proto-oncogene mutates into an oncogene, it becomes:

A

permanently ‘turned on’ or activated when it isn’t supposed to be

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

what are the four major classes of oncogenes?

A
  • growth factors and their receptors
  • signal transducers
  • transcription factors/nuclear transducers
  • programmed cell death regulators
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

the first ‘hit’ in the development of a familial tumour occurs in the germline in a cancer susceptibility gene and the second ‘hit’ occurs somatically in the other allele of the same gene

A

Knudson’s multiple-hit hypothesis

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

what is the biggest issue with diagnosing cancer?

A

cancer is often far advanced by the time of detection

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

how large is a cell mass that has had ~30 cell doublings?

A

diameter = ~2cm (within the limits of diagnostic procedures, though it might be unnoticed in many organs)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

how large is a cell mass that has had ~40 cell doublings?

A

diameter = ~20cm if we were all in one clump (likely to be lethal)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

true or false: you cannot leave ANY cancer cells behind after treatment

A

true

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

a given therapeutic dose of a cytotoxic drug destroys a constant fraction of:

A

the malignant cells (cancer cells)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

a dose which kills 99.99% of cells, if used to treat a tumor with 10^11 cells, will still leave:

A

10 million viable malignant cells

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

1/3 of cancers are cured with:

A

local treatment strategies (ie: surgery or radiotherapy)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

why is it that ~2/3 of cancer cases require a systemic approach to treatment?

A

because of the risk of metastasis

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

anti-cancer drugs alone cure ____% of all cancer patients when a tumor is diagnosed at an advanced stage

A

<10

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

why is there little reliance on the host immunological defense mechanisms in ridding the body of the cancer cells?

A

because they are your own cells!

24
Q

anything that kills cancer cells is likely to affect:

A

normal cells

25
most anti-cancer drugs interfere with:
the cell cycle
26
some anti-cancer drugs act at specific phases in the cell cycle, mainly at the:
S and M phases
27
what makes tumor cells more susceptible to S and M phase anti-cancer drugs than normal cells?
they have a higher percentage of proliferating cells than normal cells
28
list seven adverse side-effects of chemotherapy drugs
- bone marrow toxicity (myelosuppression) with decreased leukocyte production and thus decreased ressitance to infection - impaired wound healing - loss of hair (alopecia) - damage to gastroinestinal epithelium - depression of growth in children - sterility - teratogenicity
29
what is primary drug resistance?
resistance that is present when the drug is first given
30
what is acquired drug resistance?
resistance that results from either adaptation of the tumor cells or mutation
31
during a military operation in WWII, a group of people were accidentally exposed to mustard gas and were later found to have:
very low white blood cell counts
32
Louis S Goodman and Alfred Gilman studied the effectiveness of nitrogen mustard to suppress:
a tumor of lymphoid cells
33
the transfer of an alkyl group from one molecule to another
alkylation
34
give an example of a nitrogen mustard
cyclophosphamide
35
causes severe nausea and vomiting and can be nephrotoxic, but revolutionized the treatment of germ cell tumors
cisplatin
36
alkylating agents form highly reactive, _____ intermediates
positively charged (electrophilic)
37
alkyl groups bind _____ to DNA
covalently
38
an atom particularly susceptible to the formation of covalent bonds with alkylating agents
N7 atom of guanine
39
true or false: most alkylating agents are bifunctional (cross-link DNA strands)
true
40
when are canceer cells most susceptible to treatment with alkylating agents?
late G1 and S phases of the cell cycle
41
- DNA-reactive - bifunctional - form intra-strand cross links these are all characteristics of:
platinum complexes
42
what is an example of a platinum complex?
cisplatin
43
what kind of molecules do antimetabolite chemotherapeutics mimic?
natural metabolites
44
antimetabolite chemotherapeutics interfere with:
biosynthetic pathways, inhibiting critical steps in nucleic acid synthesis
45
list three major types of antimetabolite chemotherapeutics
- anti-folates - pyrimidine analogues - purine analogs
46
what do anti-folates do?
they interfere with the production of deoxythymidine triphosphate which is needed for DNA synthesis
47
what is methotrexate (MTX)?
an anti-folate that inhibits dihydrofolate reductase (blocks the folate cycle)
48
inside cells, folates and methotrexate (MTX) are converted to:
polyglutamates
49
antimetabolites which mimic the structure of metabolic pyrimidines
pyrimidine analogs
50
what is fluorouracil?
a nucleobase analong (pyrimidine analog)
51
what is cytosine arabinoside?
a nucleoside analog (pyrimidine analog)
52
what is gemcitabine?
a nucleoside analog (pyrimidine analog)
53
what does 5-fluorouracil do?
interferes with the folate cycle by inhibiting thymidilate synthase
54
go review slide 954
I'm not writing down that pathway
55
- converted into fraudulent nucleotides - incorporated into DNA - inhibits various enzymes - used mainly for acute lymphoblastic leukemia these are all characteristics of:
purine nucleobase analogues

PMCOL 200 (35 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions