Anticancer drugs: alkylating agents, antimetabolites, targeted therapy basics
Pharmacology · MBBS
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Study notes
A CML patient takes one daily pill — imatinib — and the leukemia melts away. Targeted therapy's founding story: CML is driven by one abnormal protein (BCR-ABL); imatinib blocks exactly it — cancer cells die, normal cells are spared. Contrast classic chemo's collateral (hair, gut, marrow). Resistance emerges (T315I mutation → dasatinib/ponatinib), but the principle stands — find the driver, drug the driver. Precision oncology began with this pill.
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