In our last episode, we laid out the broad principles of combining chemotherapy with radiation and surveyed the major classes of traditional cytotoxic drugs. Today, we're taking a closer look at the "why" and "how" of these combinations. We'll explore which specific chemotherapy agents are known to work synergistically with radiation, how their cell cycle specificity plays into this partnership, and importantly, the normal tissue toxicities that can be exacerbated. Then, we’ll shift gears to the exciting realm of molecularly targeted therapies, identifying key targets like EGFR, HER2, VEGF, and PARP, and discussing how agents like Cetuximab, Trastuzumab, Bevacizumab, and PARP inhibitors like Olaparib interact with radiation. We’ll cap it off with a crucial concept: synthetic lethality, particularly as it relates to PARP inhibitors and BRCA mutations.

Ver todos los episodios