Cancer drug therapy

The reduction of nausea in patients taking anti-cancer drug therapy is probably the most widely researched area for cannabis therapy. A number of these studies have shown that oral administration of isolated cannabinoids produce significant improvements, particularly for those patients who have failed to respond to standard antinausea treatments during chemotherapy (see Tortorice and O Connell, 1990 for a comprehensive review). Patients and oncologists have subjectively reported that smoked marijuana is as safe (in this patient group) and effective as isolated oral cannabinoids, but more systematic research trials are required. 

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Online. Available HTTP cancer/index.htm> (accessed 5 April 2003). Oncology Tools contains a variety of information related to cancer and approved cancer drug therapies. 

This section describes the role of interferons as cancer drug therapies, emphasizing key contributions of recombinant biotechnology that made these therapeutic advances a reality. Additionally, some of the mechanisms by which the IFNs elicit antiproliferative or antitumor effects wiU be explored. 

Membrane transporters play key roles in cancer drug therapy. In fact, the effectiveness of cancer chemotherapy may often depend on the relative transport capacities of... 

Cancer cells are genetically unstable, which results in tumor masses of heterogeneous cells, and makes the cancer a "moving target" for drug therapy. Existence of many different clones of cancer cells in most patients provides the rationale for use of cancer drugs in combination, and is the likely reason for failure of cancer drug therapy to cure most patients with advanced cancer. 

Educate the patient on drug therapy and possible treatment-related adverse effects, and counsel the patient on appropriate recommendations to prevent or minimize these adverse effects. What medications are for the treatment of cancer and what medications are to prevent the adverse effects of chemotherapy ... 

Schatzlein, A. 2001. Non-viral vectors in cancer gene therapy principles and progress. Anti-Cancer Drugs 12(4), 275-304. 

Rao RD, Markovic SN, Anderson PM (2003) Aerosol therapy for malignancy involving the lungs. Curr Cancer Drug Targets 3(4) 239-250. 

K. D. Bagshawe, Antibody Directed Enzymes Revive Anti-Cancer Prodrugs Concept , Br. J. Cancer 1987, 56, 531-532 K. D. Bagshawe, Antibody-Directed Enzyme/Pro-drug Therapy (ADEPT) , Biochem. Soc. Trans. 1990, 18, 750-752. 

In October 2003, the SFDA approved the world s first gene therapy— Gendicine (a recombinant human adenovirus type 5 mediated delivery of p53 gene)— for the treatment of head and neck cancer. In 2005, another head and neck cancer drug, Oncorine (a recombinant oncolytic adenovirus type 5), was approved. In the same year, another recombinant human endostatin, Endostar, was approved for the treatment of small-cell lung cancer. 

Pardee AB, Li YZ, Li CJ. (2002) Cancer therapy with beta-lapachone. Curr Cancer Drug Targets 2 227-242. 

Vigushin DM, Coombes RC. (2004) Targeted histone deacetylase inhibition for cancer therapy. Curr Cancer Drug Targets 4 205-218. 

Non-surgical methods of cancer treatment, primarily radiation therapy and chemotherapy, rely almost exclusively on procedures that kill cells. The main problem with these treatments is that they do not provide specificity for cancer cells. In the case of radiation therapy, a degree of specificity is achieved by localizing the radiation to the tumour and its immediate surrounding normal tissue. For anti-cancer drugs, it is primarily the rapid proliferation of many of the cancer cells that makes them more sensitive to cell killing than their normal counterparts. However, both modalities are limited by their cytotoxic effects on normal cells. In the case of radiotherapy, normal tissue surrounding the tumour limits the radiation dose, where-... 

Spira A, Ettinger DS. Drug therapy multidisciplinary management of lung cancer. N Engl Med 2004 350 379-92. 

Simpson D, Plosker GL. Paclitaxel as adjuvant or neoadjuvant therapy in early breast cancer. Drugs 2004 64 1839 7. 

---