Lecture 34 Flashcards
Explain viruses and cancer
Retroviruses can cause cancer by mutating and rearranging proto-oncogenes and by inserting strong promoters near proto-oncogenes or inactivating tumor suppressors (ex: human papilloma virus and cervical cancer)
What is a monoclonal antibody?
They target cancer cell-specific antigens and induce an immunological response against the target cancer cell (a toxin, radioisotope, cytokine, or other active conjugate can be coupled to the antibody as well)
What is Rituximab?
Monoclonal antibody against the protein CD20 on B cells; destroys B cells and used to treat diseases which are characterized by excessive numbers of B cells, overactive B cells, or dysfunctional B cells (includes many lymphomas, leukemias, transplant rejection, and autoimmune disorders); also kills healthy B cells
Explain how CRISPR is being used in cancer therapy
This treatment edits genes and creates “designer” immune cells programmed to hunt out and kill drug resistant leukemia; makes specific T and B cells to attack the cancer
Explain how CAR-T therapy is being used in the treatment of cancer
T cells are extracted from the blood, gene edited to attack the cancer cells, many CAR-T cells are grown, and then they are injected back into the patient where they attack the cancer; used in the treatment of B cell malignancies
Explain how companion animals, such as dogs, are helping to identify cancer genetics and with testing of potential therapy
They suffer from the same diseases humans do; purebred dogs are heavily inbred, so they have less genetic variation, which allows scientists to find harmful mutations easily; a treatment for glioblastoma that is used to treat brain cancer in dogs is potentially the answer to treat glioblastoma in humans
Explain the role of precision genetic testing in cancer diagnosis and therapy and the significance of FDA approval of new genetic diagnostic tools
These tests can detect genetic mutations that are signatures for different types of cancers; FDA approval is significant because medicare/medicaid, and in turn most insurance companies, will cover FDA approved or cleared diagnostics, provided there is a clear indication for use in that patient’s cancer and the results given to a doctor specify treatment options
What is the Cancer Genome Atlas project?
Research program that identify genomic changes in more than 20 different types of human cancer; will help to understand what turns a normal cell into a cancer cell by comparing DNA from normal and cancer tissue; we have already learned there are certain areas of the genome commonly affected in several types of cancer and specific changes (signatures) allow us to tell one type of cancer from the other
