Treatments Flashcards
What do the largest group of genetic diseases affect?
Metabolism pathways
Consequence?
Increased conc of substrate
Alternate pathway producing different, possibly toxic product
Not enough actual product that the pathway is supposed to produce
How does PKU work?
Phynylalanine converted to phenylketones
Lack of phynylalanine hydroxylase (discovered in 1953)
1960s screening program to measure pheny alanine treaments
How does PKU present as symptoms?
Can’t remember
fairer skin and hair
What is the standard PKU treatment?
Low protein diet
Tyrosine supplement
How are treatments derived?
After understanding the mechanism of the disease (so science first)
e.g. with PKU…
What is another broad range of disease?
Blood clotting diseases e.g. haemophilia
How does haemophilia present?
Bleeding into the brain etc
What us the standard treatment for Haemophilia?
1930s - snake venom (believed to contain clotting agents)
1940s - patients given large pints of blood
1952 - Factor VIII
1955 - infusions of Factor VIII in plasma form, many pints
1970s - purify Factor VIII protein HOWEVER this caused a huge transferof HIV and Hep B
Where did the haemophilia treatment go wrong?
something
How did the issue for haemophilia treatment get solved?
Heat treatment
What are some other diseases treated by replacement of the missing molecule?
Idk
What are the 2 main treatment options?
Diet
replacement
How were diseases treated previously?
The symptoms
not the underlying cause
How to form an effective treatment?
Understand underlying science / mechanism behind the disease first
What are the steps of drug development
Discovery / preclinical
Longest part lab based
testing in animals
clinical testing in 3 phases - first in healthy volunteers to see if there are toxic affects
next patients - therapeutic to look for correct doses plus side effects
large scale
What do trials look for?
Risk benefit
Are there more benefits than risks?
What are the NHS values for approval of the use of the drug?
NICE - value for money (not absolute cost)
Must follow all guidelines for treating conditions
What controls the folding process of a protein pharmacologically?
Chaperones - acts as stabiliser for mutant proteins to help the protein fold correctly
Sits in active site of the enzyme responsible for folding, then the actual protein folds around the chaperone into the correct shape
Why are some proteins misfolded?
Complex
ER degrades protein … etc
What is Fabry disease?
something
What are pharmacological modulators and what can they be used for?
Used in drugs commonly
Best to target specific mutations
receptor agonists / antagonists… etc
How can pharmacological modulators be used to treat CF?
Design a drug that works to open the mutant drugs
If you don’t have one of the 33 mutations, it will be unsuccessful?
Drawbacks of modulators?
Specific to mutation
How are the drawbacks of these types of treatments overcome?
Combination of treatments