Chemotherapy is the use of chemicals to cure cancer. Chemotherapy is also known as “chemo”. The term for chemo came from the German bacteriologist Paul Ehrlich around the year 1900. He came up with the term when he was examining aniline dyes and arsenicals as possible treatments for diseases such as syphilis. He envisioned “magic bullets” that would be able to target invading organisms but still leave the host unscathed. This goal has been providing therapeutic benefits without many side effects in all areas of drug development. There has been a lot of success with compounds that modulate normal biochemistry within the body. Chemotherapy is used for many different things. Chemo can be used to keep cancer from spreading, slow the cancers growth, kill cancer cells that have already spread to other parts of the body, relieve symptoms such as pain that is caused by cancer, shrink tumors, and of course to cure cancer. Chemo can be given in many different ways. It can be given as an injection, through an IV, topically, directly into the body cavity, and orally. Oral chemotherapy is given in the form of a liquid, tablet, or capsule that you swallow. Oral chemo is not as strong as other forms but can work just as well. Chemo given through an IV is the most common. The side effects brought on by chemotherapy are very harsh on the body. These side effects occur because the chemo agents are poisonous and cancer cells and normal cells are very similar so it is very difficult to leave normal cells unharmed causing the patient to experience side effects while undergoing chemo. These side effects can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hair loss, mouth sores, skin changes, and low blood counts. These side effects don't... ... middle of paper ... ...his is also part of a series called pharmacodynamics. This includes both the positive and negative changes brought on by a drug. This study is important because when a drug is administered it must reach the target in the organism before it is excreted or altered by the detoxifying enzymes in the body. Most of these enzymes are located in the liver. Results from these tests have allowed for synthesis of new drugs with better chemistries, distributions, and toxicity profiles. Specificity is a common thing in the chemo world. There have been many drugs that have shown specificity for certain tumors. Knowing why a drug shows specificity isn’t usually obvious. The specificity of a given drug is usually found by trial and error. They still don't know why exactly specificity occurs but it appears to result from the different biochemistries of cancer cells.
The analysis is therefore one of the most effective methods of ensuring that each drug being prescribed to patients is safe. It also ensures that all drug components are understood in terms of their structure and chemical behavior. This understanding is very important in the manufacture of drugs and other pharmaceutical products.
1. Chemotherapy tends to be the conventional lung cancer treatment used that everyone has heard of. Today it uses a cocktail of over 100 different drugs and works by destroying the cancerous cells and stopping their spread. However, although considered to be an acceptable treatment, it does tend to cause many unwanted side-effects.
During the winter of my sophomore year of high school my aunt, whom I am very close with, was diagnosed with stage three ovarian and cervical cancer. She underwent various surgeries and chemotherapy treatments, spent weeks in the hospital, and many more weeks battling the effects of the chemotherapy from home.
Breast cancer has always been a common thread among the women of my family; especially on my mother’s side, including my Grandmother whom passed away due to this disease before I could ever meet her. More so, my mother was gravely affected by this disease early in my life. Thankfully, she was able to stop the cancer from spreading; the doctors were able to find the cancerous cells and remove them. Due to this grave, but powerful impact on my life, I have been determined to becoming a biomedical scientist to assist on the research and treatment of this deadly disease. Although this acts as my principal driver, to study in this field, I have also been intrigued and driven by the idea that I could aid lower setting regions to receive health benefits using studies in translational medicine and
Chemotherapy is the treatment of a tumor with chemical agents to reduce mass or eradicate a tumor completely. There are certain mechanisms by which chemotherapy inhibits cancer. The first mechanism is cell death by cytotoxicity. Some chemical agents in certain amounts are toxic to cells. The cells die due to the toxic...
I believe my thesis statement is argumentative because, not all States allow for a patient to choose what form of drug they can use to relieve pain, nausea, sleep and eating problems while on Chemo and Radiation therapy. There are many studies that have prove how the use of smoking or vaporized (inhale) have help Cancer patients have a more enjoyable
For cancer patients there are several treatment options. Surgery can remove cancerous tumors, chemotherapy uses drugs for treatment, and radiation therapy. The doctor in charge of the patient’s treatment may also choose to use radiation therapy. “Radiation
According to SEER Statistics, 23,380 people are estimated to get a brain or nervous system cancer diagnosis. Out of those people, 14,320 people are estimated to die from their brain or nervous system cancer diagnosis (National Cancer Institute). Cancer is a type of dangerous tumor, or a buildup of extra cells that form a mass of tissue, that can be life threatening (National Cancer Institute). The term for a tumor that is cancerous is a malignat tumor, whereas a benign tumor does not contain cancer cells (National Cancer Institute). According to the National Cancer Institute, the causes of brain cancer are unknown, but risk factors include family history and excessive radiaton exposure. Although they are not always due to a brain tumor, comon symptoms include headaches, nausea, speech, hearing, vision, and mood changes, problems with balance and mamories, seizures, and numbness in arms and legs (National Cancer Institute). MRI and CT scans as well as surgical biposies (or the removal of part of the tumor to be examined) are used to diagnose brain cancer (National Cancer Institute). Different types of treatment options include radiation therapy, surgery to remove the tumor, and chemotherapy. According to Charles Davis, MD, PhD and Nitin Tandon, MD of WebMD.com, chemotherapy is “ the use of powerful drugs to kill tumor cells”. There are a few different types of chemotherapy, but all of which bring out the same kinds of side effects. Although the physical side effects of chemotherapy are commonly known, few people know of the emotional toll chemotherapy can take on a patient and his or her family as they go though this process.
Chemotherapy often impairs the function of bone marrow, suppressing the formation of red and white blood cells and platelets (myelo suppression), and standard cancer treatments have toxic effects on oral tissues. These are some of the oral complications that are common to chemotherapy and radiation:
I had the pleasure to interview my grandma, Olga Hernandez. She was born on November 8, 1951 in Cuba. She worked in a workshop making clocks. After she retired, she took care of me while my mom worked. I consider her to be my second mom because she lived with me for eight years. She taught me love, discipline, manners, etc. My grandma is: strong, beautiful, caring, and passionate. Most importantly, she is a breast cancer survivor. I chose to interview my grandma because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I couldn’t think of a better time to do this interview. I like her story because although it’s sad, it has a happy ending. It shows you that no matter how hard things get, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
...gens are exogenous (outside the cell) and will be presented to helper T cells to initiate an immune response. This can trigger cytotoxic T cells to kill cancer cells with the same antigen – often HPV viral proteins in cervical cancer. T cells may not be activated to their full potential – recall that the inhibitory receptor CTLA-4 on T cells sends a stronger signal than CD28, the activating receptor. Ipilimumab is added to treatment for this reason. It will work in conjunction with the released antigens, activating the T cells that can respond to the antigens and create an immune response against the cancer cells (LACC article). Adding ipilimumab to the chemo/radiation treatment would enhance the immune system’s ability to respond to the antigen released by the treatment. This is the first time a treatment like this has been suggested for cervical cancer (LACC).
Chemotherapy is known to get people sick easier by destroying the entire immune system but it can get rid of cancerous cells
Pre-discovery process is the first stage of drug discovery. During Pre-discovery stage chemists and pharmacologists endeavor to understand and identify the factors which can play a significant role in the particular disease. After revealing the cause of disease or understanding it a target molecule against which drug will act is being chosen. In order to understand the structure the target molecule is eliminated, isolated and its various interactions are inquired. Understanding interactions of the molecule can be helpful in finding treatment of a specific disease. Next stage includes the demonstration that the chosen molecule is relevant to the disease and proof that the drug target is associated with a desired change in the behavior of diseased cells (PPD, 2011).
Pharmacology is the science of drugs (from Greek pharmakos which means medicine or drug; and logos which means study). In actual use, it's meaning is limited to the study of how drugs and other substances affect our bodies. It has been defined as an experimental science which studies how substances that have entered our bodies affect our organism. The main tasks of pharmacologists are screening for desired activity, determining mode of action, and quantifying drug activity when chemical methods are not available.[1]
The National Cancer Institute says that one in two will get cancer during their lifetime. The cancer drug is a key part in the treatment for these people. As of now, there are more than 100 cancer drugs in use. These drugs can kill cancer cells or at least slow down the growth. The difference between regular cells and cancer cells is that cancer cells divide rapidly, while healthy cells don’t. These drugs aren’t perfect and may also hit the normal cells, which can cause many side effects. Many of the cancer cells can resist the cancer drugs. These drugs are usually given in a tablet form, injection, or infusion by a device called a port. The port inserts it into the blood vessel or body cavity.