Treatments

Question 1

How do scientists normally treat pathogenic diseases? Give one example of how this works

Answer 1

Doctors give patients medication that is harmful to pathogens but relatively safe for human cells

Penicillin: protein inhibitor for bacteria cell walls — bacteria dies when it tries to grow/reproduce

Question 2

What makes cancer so challenging to treat?

Answer 2

1. Killing cancer cells = killing body cells
2. Struggle of killing cancer cells but keeping healthy cells alive
3. Constant mutation in cancer cells = resistance to treatment

Question 3

How does surgery work? What are it’s limitations? How does it impact cancer cells and healthy cells?

Answer 3

Surgery removes tumor and all cancerous cells to prevent regrowth

Limitations:
- works best in early stages
- when tumor metastasizes
- when tumor is large
- when tumor is in delicate area
- ineffective for cancers w/out tumor

Question 4

How does radiation therapy work? What are it’s limitations? How does it impact cancer cells and healthy cells?

Answer 4

Therapy that uses high energy waves/particles to target cancer cells - cancer spends more time in mitosis and x DNA repair pathways
Limitations
- attacks normals body cells
- X effective on bigger tumors
- tumor needs to be visible on CT or MRI scan

Question 5

How does chemotherapy work? What are it’s limitations? How does it impact cancer cells and healthy cells?

Answer 5

Treatment that delivers chemicals to cancer cells so they don’t replicate - targets cell growth and replication process

Limitations
- inability to only target cancer
- works best on rapidly growing and dividing cells (hair, skin, gastro)
- unpleasant life threatening side effects

Question 6

How does immunotherapy work? What are it’s limitations? How does it impact cancer cells and healthy cells?

Answer 6

uses immune system to gain control over cancer through various means (ex: immune checkpoint inhibitors - blocks cancer from turning off immune cells)

Limitations
- works for some but not others
- overstimulating immune system could result in attacking vital organs
- cancer developing resistance

Question 7

How does hormone therapy work? What are it’s limitations? How does it impact cancer cells and healthy cells?

Answer 7

Blocking hormone production to prevent growth of cancer

Limitations
- best for reproductive cancers (prostate, breast, vaginal, etc)
- mood swings
- lower sex drive
- onset of menopause

Question 8

Why does cancer develop resistance to treatments?

Answer 8

Cancer mutates at higher rates through which allows them to breakdown, inhibit or become unresponsive to drugs

Question 9

What is combination therapy? Why is it used?

Answer 9

The use of multiple treatments to decrease the likelihood of cancer developing resistance to treatment

Question 10

What is the difference between remission and cure?

Answer 10

Remission - cancer reduced but could return
1. Partial remission: cancer has decreased and most systems gone
2. Complete remission: all symptoms gone and no cancer detected

Cure: all cancer cells gone - often after 5 years of remission