Miscellaneous Chemotherapies
Nitrosoureas
- Lomustine and carmustine.
- Draw a brain tumor to highlight that their lipophilicity makes them ideal for brain tumors.
Hydrazines and Triazines
- Procarbazine, dacarbazine, and temozolomide.
- Temozolomide is the mainstay for treatment for gliomas, which are key forms of malignant brain tumor (eg, glioblastoma multiforme and astrocytoma).
Protein Kinase Inhibitors
- Protein kinases phosphorylate either serine, threonine or tyrosine.
- Imatinib is tyrosine kinase inhibitor (Treats CML).
Monoclonal antibodies
- Trastuzumab, binds to HER2 (human epidermal growth factor 2); it can cause a dilated cardiomyopathy (like the anthracyclines).
- Bevacizumab is an important VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) monoclonal antibody (Treats glioblastoma multiforme secondary disease progression). It can cause pulmonary hemorrhage.
- Rituximab binds to the calcium-channel CD20 protein and triggers B lymphocyte lysis. Alemtuzumab also lyses B lymphocytes.
- Rituximab and alemtuzumab are immunotherapies that, amongst other things, are used in central nervous system (CNS) demyelinating disorders. Rituximab is the treatment of choice in neuromyelitis optica, a demyelinating disorder that is a variant of multiple sclerosis.
Proteasome inhibitors
- Indicate bortezomib, which is a is a boron-containing proteasome inhibitor. It is a key treatment in multiple myeloma.
Hormones
- Glucocorticoids
- Estrogens
- Progesterones
- Gonadotrophin-releasing hormones
- Somatostatin analogs
Hormone Antagonists
Antiestrogens (breast cancer)
- Tamoxifen competes with endogenous estrogens
- Aromatase Inhibitors: anastrozole
Antiandrogens (prostate cancer)
- Flutamide (one example)
Further Miscellaneous Agents
- Thalidomide is, amongst other things, an antiangiogenic, IL-6 inhibitor. It is a notable cause of teratogenicity: limb truncation in the fetus.