Cancer Treatment

Stage 0

Cancer cells found in their earliest form

Stage 1

Has not infiltrated deeply into nearby tissue, nor has it spread to lymph nodes or away from primary tumor

Stage 2

tumor cells have spread deeper into neighboring tissue but not to distant sites in body

stage 3

cancer has grown more deeply into neighboring tissue and spread to lymph nodes but hasn’t spread to distant sites in the body

stage 4

cancer cells have spread beyond nearby tissue and into lymph nodes

Surgery 2 notions

Small tumors become large tumors
Resection of primary tumor reduces the risk of metastatic relapse

Paclitaxel (Taxol) drug

Blocks the breakdown of microtubules at the end of mitosis

Treats lung, breast, ovary and head-neck cancers

Doxorubicin

intercalating agent, inhibits topoisomerase

Cisplatin

antibacterial agent that formed at platinum electrodes

DNA alkylating agent formed crosslinks in the DNA

DNA alkylating agents

DNA damaging agents can cause or treat cancer depending on specific agent and how it is used

druggable oncoprotein

structure vulnerable to attack

cavity, well-defined catalytic cleft

lymphocyte experiment

in cells overexpressing Bcr-Abl they can survive w/o IL-3

Bcr-Abl replaces IL-3

Maximum tolerated dose

highest dose that does not alter longevity and produces no more than 10% weight loss and no toxicity/pathologic lesions

Therapeutic window

Range in concentration that is higher than what is needed to elicit a therapeutic effect and lower than the MTD

*Want a wide therapeutic window

Phase 1

Find a safe dose

Decide how new treatment should be given

To see how the new treatment affects the human body and fights cancer

15-30 people in study

Phase 2

To determine if the new treatment has an effect on a certain cancer

To see how the new treatment affects the body and fights cancer

Less than 100 people

Phase 3

To compare the new treatment with current standard of treatment

100 to several thousand people in trial

FISH

Fluorescently labeled probes that bind to DNA to determine their locations on chromosomes

Microarrays

gDNA extracted from a patient and reference sample w/ green or red fluorophores and add equal amounts of both samples to competitively hybridize with oligonucleotide probes spotted onto a solid surface