PCL102H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Targeted Therapy, Prostate Cancer, Signal Transduction
17 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Pcl102 session 4: drug discovery - mechanisms of disease. Chromosome abnormalities result in the creation of a fusion gene (gene that incorporates parts of two different genes) whose product, fusion protein, may drive cancer development. What types of targeted therapies are available: hormone therapies: slow or stop growth of hormone-sensitive tumors, which require certain hormones to grow. In some cancers, the malignant cells are stimulated to divide continuously without being prompted to do so by external growth factors. Some interfere with the action of a substance that stimulates new blood vessel formation and other target other molecules that stimulate new blood vessel growth. Once bound, the toxic molecule that is linked to the antibody is taken up by the cell, killing it. The toxin will not affect cells that lack the target for the antibody: cancer vaccines and gene therapy are sometimes considered targeted therapies because they interfere with cancer cell growth.
