Malignancy Treatment Flashcards
How does radiotherapy work?
Damages the DNA of the cell
Cell recognises it is damaged beyond repair and undergoes apoptosis
Why do lymphomas respond well to radiotherapy?
Undergo apoptosis more easily
What does low dose radiotherapy cause?
Blebbing
Cell breaks apart into several apoptotic bodies which are phagocytosed
What does high dose radiotherapy cause?
Plasma membrane rupture
Cellular and nuclear lysis
Necrosis
Which protein in the cell nucleus is often involved in radiotherapy?
p53
What are the long term complications of radiotherapy?
Pulmonary fibrosis
Cardiomyopathy
Further malignancy (breast, lung)
Premature atherosclerosis
What are the immediate effects of chemo?
Nausea Vomiting Alopecia Bone marrow failure Fatigue
What are the long term effects of chemo?
Heart and lung damage
Further malignancy
Infertility
Which part of the B cells do monoclonal antibodies bind to?
CD20
Which part of rituximab binds to CD20 on B cells?
Murine variable regions on the heavy chain
Anti-HER2 treats which type of cancer?
Breast
this is Herceptin
Anti-CD30 treats which kind of cancer?
Hodgkins
Give examples of drugs which directly kill malignant B cells
Ofatumunab
Obinutumab
Give examples of tyrosine kinase inhibitors
Imatinib
Nilotinib
What are the main side effects of imatinib?
Diarrhoea
Pulmonary oedema
Neutropenia
What effect does tyrosine kinase have on cancer cells?
Causes proliferation by phosphorylating genes to activate them
Which drugs are used to kill malignant B cells in CLL?
Ibrutinib and idelalisib
Direct B cell killing agents work even in p53 mutated malignancies true/false
True
What is graft vs leukaemia therapy?
Allogenic bone marrow transplant to induce graft vs host disease which hopefully kills more cancer than host
At which phases of the cell cycle are cell more susceptible to chemo?
Growing/dividing
How does methotrexate work?
Inhibits dihydrofolate reductase to prevent DNA synthesis
How do alkylating agents work to treat malignancy?
Bind covalently to bases of DNA to produce DNA strand breaks via free radical production
Give examples of platinum derivatives used in malignancy treatment?
Cis-platin
Carboplatin
How do cytotoxic antibodies work to treat malignancy?
Impairs RNA transcription and causes DNA strand breaks
Give examples of cytotoxic antibodies used in cancer treatment
Daunorubicin
Doxorubicin
Idarubicin
What is the benefit to combination chemotherapy?
Avoids resistance
Can give lower doses if drugs are combined
