Pharmacology 2060A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Water–Electrolyte Imbalance, Osteoporosis, Antiemetic
20 Apr 2021
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Document Summary
Cancer refers to the uncontrolled proliferation of cells. Cancer cells are often referred to as neoplastic, meaning they have abnormal and uncontrollable cell growth. Invasive cancer cells invade adjacent tissue, facilitating cancer growth in di erent areas of the body. Metastatic the ability of cancer cells to travel to di erent sites in the body and invade to form new tumours. Immortal cancer cells do not die, they continually divide. Angiogenesis cancer cells develop their own blood vessels to supply nutrients. This is a critical step to allow them to proliferate. Radiation high energy radiation is used to shrink tumours and kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy damages dna of both cancerous and non-cancerous cells. Chemotherapy drugs are used to treat cancer. As cancerous cells are dividing rapidly, chemotherapeutic drugs target rapidly dividing cells. As the treatment of cancer involves targeting cell proliferation, an understanding of the cell cycle is essential for understanding the mechanism of drug action.
