Test #3 Cancer therapeutics Flashcards
1/3 of cancer patients are cured with what type of treatment?
-Local (surgery, radiotherapy)
What is chemotherapy used for?
-Advanced disease or as an adjuvant
When do anticancer drugs usually exert their action?
-On cells during cell cycle
T/F Usually a single drug at clinically tolerable doses can cure the cancer by itself
False
-Typically requires a combination of drugs or in combination with radiation and/or surgery
What do you use for localized disease where surgery/radiation alone are inadequate?
-Chemotherapy as a neoadjuvant
What do you use in addition to local methods such as radiation/surgery to prevent metastasis?
-Chemotherapy as an adjuvant
What do you try to optimize when using drug combinations?
- Efficacy
- Reduced toxicity
- Optimum scheduling
- Mechanism of interaction
- Optimal dosing
What does p53 do? what happens if P53 is mutated?
- Senses sick or abnormal DNA and regulates apoptosis
- If p53 is mutated, it can lead to resistance to radiation therapy and anticancer agents
What is BRCA 1-2 related to?
Breast and ovary carcinomas
T/F Acquired resistance often develops with continual exposure to a given anticancer agent
True
What is an alkylating agent used to treat cancer?
-Cyclophosphamide
What cancers do you use Cyclophosphamide (alkylating agents) to treat?
- Hodgkins and non-Hodgkins lymphoma
- Leukemia
- Breast cancer
- Multiple Myeloma
What do cyclophosphamides do?
Transfer their alkyl groups to various cell constituents such as DNA
What is primary induction?
-Where chemotherapy is the only treatment for the cancer and is usually with advanced diseases
When treating with cyclophosphamides what is the most common mechanism for cell death?
-Alkylations of DNA
What are the adverse effects of Cyclophosphamide?
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Damage to rapidly growing tissues (bone marrow, GI tract, oral mucosa)
- Carcinogenic in nature
What are some Nitrosoureas used to treat cancer?
- Procarbazine
- Decarbazine
What are Procarbazine and Decarbazine together used for?
-Combination regimens for Hodgkins lymphoma
What type of cancer is just Decarbazine used for?
- Melanomas
- Lymphomas
- Soft tissue sarcomas
What type of cancer treating drug is Highly lipophilic and used to treat brain tumors?
-Nitrosoureas (Procarbazine and Decarbazine)