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Cancer therapies, monoclonal antibodies and personalized med
Cancer therapies, monoclonal antibodies and personalized medicine THIS ISN'T FINISHED -- resume at slide 18
30
Biology
Undergraduate 4
05/02/2014

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Term
What is the most common approach to the treatment of cancer?
Definition
-surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are standard treatments for cancer
-strategies for treatment of cancer depend on the type and how far it has spread
-most commonly: the primary tumor is removed surgically, followed by radiation and/or chemotherapy to destroy remaining cancer cells
-targeted therapies are now available for some types of cancer
Term
Radiation as cancer therapy (radiation therapy) -- how does it work? Why does it work?
Definition
-uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells in two ways:
1. DNA damage caused by radiation activates the p53 pathway, so if it is still functional in tumor cells, it can trigger apoptosis
2. Radiation causes such severe DNA/chromosomal damage that cells cannot proceed successfully through mitosis
Term
p53 pathway -- how does it work? what does it do?
Definition
NEED TO LEARN THIS
Term
Chemotherapy -- what are the four main types of chemotherapy drugs?
Definition
Antimetabolites, alkylating agents, cytotoxic antibiotics, plant-derived drugs
Term
antimetabolites (part of chemotherapy)
Definition
Inhibit metabolic pathways required for DNA synthesis by competitively inhibiting synthetic enzymes
Term
Alkylating agents (re: chemotherapy)
Definition
Inhibit DNA function by crosslinking the DNA double helix, which prevents replication
Term
cytotoxic antibiotics (re: chemotherapy)
Definition
substances made by microorganisms that inhibit DNA replication by binding to DNA or inhibiting topoisomerases required for unwinding DNA during replication
Term
topoisomerases
Definition
WHAT DO THEY DO
Term
plant-derived drugs (re: chemotherapy)
Definition
either inhibit topoisomerases or disrupt microtubules of mitotic spindle
Term
taxol
Definition
WHAT DOES IT DO
Term
COLCHICINE (?) AND OTHER DRUGS THAT MESS WITH MICROTUBULES
Definition
NEED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MICROTUBULES
Term
Problems with chemotherapy drugs?
Definition
-problem with these drugs and with radiation is that they are so toxic to normal dividing cells in addition to cancer cells
-also: cancer cells often develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs
Term
How can cancer cells develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs?
Definition
-multiple drug resistance arises when cancer cells begin to produce multidrug resistance transport protein (a type of ABC transporter) that pumps a range of chemically dissimilar drugs out of the cell
-treatment that leaves behind even a small number of cancer stem cells may allow the tumor to grow back after treatment
Term
ABC transporters
Definition
WHAT IS THIS
Term
cancer stem cells
Definition
WHAT IS THIS
Term
Hormone-depend tumors -- methods of treatment?
Definition
-some cancers require specific hormones for growth; ex: many breast cancers require estrogen for their growth
-preventing access of the cancer cells to the needed hormone can be an effective treatment
-tamoxifen is an antagonist of the estrogen receptor in the breast tissue --> used to treat breast cancer and can prevent breast cancer in high risk women. HOWEVER, tamoxifen increases the chances of uterine cancer because it acts as an agonist of the estrogen receptor there
Term
Immunotherapy
Definition
-immunotherapy can be used to treat some aggressive types of cancer that are resistant to other types of treatment
-ex: triggering an immune response with the bacteria bacillus Calmette Guerin elicits a strong (but local) immune response in the patient
-treatment with proteins that the body uses to stimulate the immune system is sometimes used
Term
bacillus Calmette Guerin
Definition
used in immunotherapy -- can trigger a strong, but local immune response in cancer patient. Use of this bacteria in bladder cancers after surgical removal of tumor seems to reduce the likelihood of cancer recurrence.
Term
therapeutic vaccines
Definition
used as a part of immunotherapy; goal with these vaccines is to stimulate the immune system to attack cancer cells --> Provenge is a therapeutic vaccine used to treat advanced prostate cancer
Term
Provenge --> why is it important? what does it do?
Definition
-Provenge is a therapeutic vaccine used to treat advanced prostate cancer
-only approved therapeutic vaccine used to treat advanced prostate cancer
-very expensive; uses an antigen commonly found in prostate cancer cells in combination with immune cells obtained from the patient's blood
Term
preventative vaccines -- what do they do? Give an example
Definition
-vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix protect against most common strains of HPV and thus against cancers caused by HPV
-hepatitis B vaccine reduces the chances of liver cancer because this virus is known to cause liver cancer
Term
molecular targeting
Definition
-in molecular targeting, drugs are designed to specifically target proteins critical to the cancer cell
-targeted therapies are being developed to target each of the cancer hallmarks/enabling trains, individually or in combination
Term
What are the two major classes of targeted therapies in molecular targeting?
Definition
monoclonal antibodies and small molecule drugs
Term
monoclonal antibodies
Definition
WHAT IS THIS
Term
small molecule drugs
Definition
WHAT IS THIS
Term
What is the most common type of antibody?
Definition
lgG; they are produced by B lymphocyte cells (plasma B cells)
Term
What is the structure of an lgG?
Definition
Two heavy chains and two light chains; they are held together by disulfide bonds
Term
Fab region
Definition
-found on lgG
-contains two identical hypervariable antigen binding sites formed by heavy and light chains
Term
Fc region
Definition
-found on lgG
-same for all lgG molecules; has a conserved glycosylation site and interacts with other cells of the immune system (phagocytes, natural killer (NK) cells, etc.)
-these interactions can trigger antibody-mediated phagocytosis or antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC), leading to infected cells' death
-Fc regions are species specific
Term
ADCC
Definition
-antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity -- can lead to infected cells' death
-can be triggereed by interactions between Fc region of lgG antibodies and phagocytes, natural killer cells (NKs), etc.
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