Chemotherapy

Drugs for chemotherapy generally fall into one of several categories. There are alkylating agents, anti-tumor antibiotics, Nitrosoureas, Antimetabolites, Topoisomerase Inhibitors, Mitotic Inhibitors, and Corticosteroid Hormones. This post concerns these more traditional treatments. Simply for background I will organize these drugs into their categories. This is taken from Wikipedia and provides a good overview of the current state of chemotherapy.

Alkylating and alkylating-like agents	Nitrogen mustards: (Chlorambucil, Chlormethine, Cyclophosphamide, Ifosfamide, Melphalan). Nitrosoureas:(Bendamustine, Carmustine, Fotemustine, Lomustine, Streptozocin). Platinum (alkylating-like): (Carboplatin, Cisplatin, Oxaliplatin, BBR3464, Satraplatin). Busulfan, Dacarbazine, Procarbazine, Temozolomide, ThioTEPA, Treosulfan, Uramustine
Antimetabolites	Folic acid: (Aminopterin, Methotrexate, Pemetrexed, Raltitrexed). Purine:(Cladribine, Clofarabine, Fludarabine, Mercaptopurine, Pentostatin, Thioguanine). Pyrimidine:(Capecitabine, Cytarabine, Fluorouracil, Floxuridine, Gemcitabine)
Spindle poison/mitotic inhibitor	Taxane: (Docetaxel, Paclitaxel). Vinca: (Vinblastine, Vincristine, Vindesine, Vinorelbine).
Cytotoxic/antitumor antibiotics	Anthracycline family: (Daunorubicin, Doxorubicin, Epirubicin, Idarubicin, Mitoxantrone, Pixantrone, Valrubicin) - streptomyces (Actinomycin, Bleomycin, Mitomycin, Plicamycin) - Hydroxyurea
Topoisomerase inhibitors	Camptotheca: (Camptothecin, Topotecan, Irinotecan, Rubitecan), Podophyllum:(Etoposide, Teniposide)
CI monoclonal antibodies	Receptor tyrosine kinase (Cetuximab, Panitumumab, Trastuzumab) - CD20 (Rituximab, Tositumomab) - other (Alemtuzumab, Bevacizumab, Gemtuzumab)
Photosensitizers	Aminolevulinic acid, Methyl aminolevulinate, Porfimer sodium, Verteporfin
Tyrosine kinase inhibitors	Cediranib, Dasatinib, Erlotinib, Gefitinib, Imatinib, Lapatinib, Lestaurtinib, Nilotinib, Sorafenib, Sunitinib, Vandetanib
Other	retinoids (Alitretinoin, Tretinoin) - Altretamine, Amsacrine, Anagrelide, Arsenic trioxide, Asparaginase (Pegaspargase), Bexarotene, Bortezomib, Denileukin diftitox, Estramustine, Ixabepilone, Masoprocol, Mitotane, Testolactone

Double-click The terms in red for definitions

* Anti-sense oligonucleotide therapy
* AROMATASE INHIBITORS
* TGF-Beta Receptors
* Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha Receptors
* NF-kB pathway
* Lymphotxin
* proteasome Inhibitor
* T-Cell Receptor for Antigen (TCR)
* Calcineurin
* FK506
* Cyclosporine
* Bortezomib
* monoclonal antibodies
* Infliximab
* Glucocorticoids
* SMAD proteins
* Calcium
* JAK-STAT pathways
* Receptor Tyrosine Kinases
* proto-oncogene
* PDGF
* EGF
* Trastuzumab
* Cetuximab
* RAF
* RAS
* Interferons
* IL-2
* IL-4
* Growth Hormone
* Leptin
* Prolactin
* Erythropoetin
* Thrombopoetin
* GM-CSF
* Cox Inhibitors
* Thiols
* Nitric Oxide
* MDR
* Antioxidants
* Bevacizumab
* Angiogenisis
* Oncolytic viruses
* Seneca ValleyVirus-001
* VEGF Trap (aflibercept)
* Herpes Simplex Virus NV1020
* Mullerian Inhibiting Substance
* B-Catenin
* APC tumor suppressor gene
* Wnt ligand
* Cytokine Receptors
* Signal Transduction
* v-sis

Endothelial cells under the microscope. Nuclei are stained blue with DAPI, microtubles are marked green by an antibody bound to FITC and actin filaments are labelled red with phalloidin bound to TRITC. Bovine pulmonary arthery endothelial cells

Neutrophil engulfing anthrax bacteria. Cover credit: The micrograph was taken by Volker Brinkmann with a Leo 1550 scanning electron microscope. Taken from PLoS Pathogens Vol. 1(3) November 2005

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RESISTANCE

This is a little outline I am working on to organize the resistance mechanisms of cancers and the techniques being tried to overcome this lethal characteristic. Please feel free to use it if you like, if you find it helpful. I will be updating it in the future.