b6 - preventing and treating disease

how does vaccination work

it introduces small amounts of dead or inactive forms of a pathogen into your body to stimulate the white blood cells to produce antibodies

what is herd immunity

if a large proportion of the population is immune to a pathogen the spread of the pathogen is much reduced

what do painkillers do

treat the symptoms of the disease but do not kill the pathogens that cause it

what are antibiotics

cure bacterial diseases by killing the bacterial pathogens inside of your body

why are antiretroviral drugs difficult to make

as viruses reproduce inside cells and it is hard to destroy viruses without also destroying the cells

what type of drug is penicillin

antibiotic

issue with antibiotics

resistant strains can form

how are drugs traditionally extracted

from plants

how are modern drugs made

synthesised in a lab

how was pencillin discovered

pencillium mould by alexander fleming

plant based medicines

digitalis originates from foxgloves

what is digitalis used for

heart drug

what is aspirin extracted from

willow

what are drugs tested for

• efficacy
  - toxicity
  - dosage

how are drugs tested

• cells
  - tissues
  - live animals

what does preclinical testing entail

testing of drugs on cells, tissues and live animals

what does clinical testing entail

uses healthy volunteers and patients, using first a low dose and then a high dose to test for optimum dose

what are double blind trials

neither the participants nor the researchers know who is receiving the actual treatment and who is receiving a placebo or an alternative treatment

monoclonal antibodies are produced from what

a single clone of cells

how monoclonal antibodies work

the antibodies are specific to one binding site on one protein antigen and so are able to target a specific chemical or specific cells in the body.

how are hybridoma cells produced

 by fusing a specific rat lymphocyte (a white blood cell) with a fast-dividing tumour cell (myeloma).

what do hybridoma cells do

can divide and make the antibody

what are monoclonal antibodies used in

treatment of diseases

how are monoclonal antibodies used to treat cancers

• bound to a radioactive substance which stops the cancer cells growing and dividing

what are monoclonal antibodies used for

• pregnancy tests
  - to measure hormones levels
  - detect chemicals in blood
  - detect pathogens
  - treating cancer

why are monoclonal antibodies not widely used

due to lots of side effects