Targeted Cancer Therapies

Question 1

What is the definition of cancer?

Answer 1

A disease of populations of cells that live, divide, invade and spread without regard to normal limits

Question 2

What causes cancer?

Answer 2

Exogenous carcinogens, DNA replication errors or inherited issues

Question 3

What are the six common cancer phenotypic characteristics?

Answer 3

Evade apoptosis
Produce own growth signals
Insensitivity to anti growth signals
Tissue invasion and metastases
Limitless replicative potential
Sustained angiogenesis

Question 4

Why does selective toxicity work on cancer cells?

Answer 4

Higher numbers of cycling cells present in tumour than normal tissue. The adverse affects occur when the proliferation of normal cells is inhibited eg.alopecia

Question 5

What is targeted cancer therapy?

Answer 5

Drug treatments that inhibit oncoproteins that drive tumour development and progression

Question 6

What is a type of cancer now treated with targeted cancer therapy?

Answer 6

Chronic myeloid leukaemia

Chromosome 9 is abnormal and chromosome 22 is too short (philedelphia chromosome)

Question 7

Why is imatinib (gleevic) so important?

Answer 7

Imatinib inhibits BCR-ABL and therefore tyrosine kinase which inhibits the signal transduction pathway that leads to chronic myeloid leukaemia (but resistance can develop)

Question 8

What is immune checkpoint modulation?

Answer 8

Monoclonal antibodies which bind cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (which suppress anti-tumour T cell cytotoxicity) so is effective in melanoma

Question 9

What are some of the side effects of monoclonal antibodies?

Answer 9

Immune related such as eczema and colitis