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According to Wikipedia, the definition of chemotherapy is:
"Chemotherapy, in its most general sense, is the treatment of disease by chemicals[1] especially by killing micro-organisms or cancerous cells. In popular usage, it refers to antineoplastic drugs used to treat cancer or the combination of these drugs into a cytotoxic standardized treatment regimen. In its non-oncological use, the term may also refer to antibiotics (antibacterial chemotherapy). In that sense, the first modern chemotherapeutic agent was Paul Ehrlich's arsphenamine, an arsenic compound discovered in 1909 and used to treat syphilis. This was later followed by sulfonamides discovered by Domagk and penicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming.
Most commonly, chemotherapy acts by killing cells that divide rapidly, one of the main properties of most cancer cells. This means that it also harms cells that divide rapidly under normal circumstances: cells in the bone marrow, digestive tract and hair follicles; this results in the most common side effects of chemotherapy—myelosuppression (decreased production of blood cells), mucositis (inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract) and alopecia (hair loss).
Other uses of cytostatic chemotherapy agents (including the ones mentioned below) are the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis,Dermatomyositis, Polymyositis, Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and the suppression of transplant rejections (see immunosuppression and DMARDs). Newer anticancer drugs act directly against abnormal proteins in cancer cells; this is termed targeted therapy."
Please note paragraph #2. It sure looks like what a lot of us are dealing with right now.
Most commonly, chemotherapy acts by killing cells that divide rapidly, one of the main properties of most cancer cells. This means that it also harms cells that divide rapidly under normal circumstances: cells in the bone marrow, digestive tract and hair follicles; this results in the most common side effects of chemotherapy—myelosuppression (decreased production of blood cells), mucositis (inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract) and alopecia (hair loss).
Other uses of cytostatic chemotherapy agents (including the ones mentioned below) are the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis,Dermatomyositis, Polymyositis, Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and the suppression of transplant rejections (see immunosuppression and DMARDs). Newer anticancer drugs act directly against abnormal proteins in cancer cells; this is termed targeted therapy."
Please note paragraph #2. It sure looks like what a lot of us are dealing with right now.
Best Answer
I really like the way you explained how everything works. Did you get this info in one place, or pull it together from lots of research? I'd love to read some of your sources.
Thank,
Diane
Thank,
Diane
The executive summary is that hep c treatment IS chemotherapy, not because interferon is used in oncology, but because ribavirin interferes with YOUR cell RNA transcription process. This is what makes ribavirin cytostatic and the treatment chemotherapy. Because a virus needs your cell to copy it, a cell with faulty RNA transcription will make faulty viruses, "bad copies", thereby reducing the efficiency at which your cells contribute to continued infection by the virus.
As a public service, many doctors stay away from the term "chemotherapy" when talking about hep c so that patients don't associate the disease with cancer. Hence hep c chemotherapy is called "treatment". The industry does this all the time. For example, NUCLEAR magnetic resonance imaging is simply called MRI because people associate the word nuclear with radiation and all the bad things associated with that word.
The geek summary is that ribavirin is an adenosine analog, the molecule appears and functions a lot like the genetic building block adenine when incorporated into RNA. When RNA is copied, adenine would normally ONLY pair with uracil, but ribavirin can ALSO pair with guanine. Substituting a guanine when a uracil is called for in the virus RNA is a "mistake" as far as the virus is concerned. Each incorporation of ribavirin into the virus RNA transcription process may induce a mistake in the final virus copy, potentially rendering the final viral copy "dead".
This also causes problems for YOUR cells. Unlike the virus however, your cells are organisms AND they are part of a complementary system which supports the cells' proper health and development. This means that cells can cope with some RNA transcription problems and your body has mechanisms to control cells that can't. Interrupting RNA transcription reduces the rate at which ALL cells in your body replicate but this impacts cells that need to replicate quickly the most and hence ribavirin commonly causes conditions such as anemia (reduced red blood cell count) and neutropenia (reduced white blood cell count) among others.
Finally, this propensity for causing genetic mutations is the reason why ribavirin is a pregnancy category X drug, "strongly discouraged". Males on ribavirin may produce sperm with bad DNA, while females on the drug who get pregnant put the embryo at risk of genetic mutation since embryonic development is so dependent on super fast cell replication.
As a public service, many doctors stay away from the term "chemotherapy" when talking about hep c so that patients don't associate the disease with cancer. Hence hep c chemotherapy is called "treatment". The industry does this all the time. For example, NUCLEAR magnetic resonance imaging is simply called MRI because people associate the word nuclear with radiation and all the bad things associated with that word.
The geek summary is that ribavirin is an adenosine analog, the molecule appears and functions a lot like the genetic building block adenine when incorporated into RNA. When RNA is copied, adenine would normally ONLY pair with uracil, but ribavirin can ALSO pair with guanine. Substituting a guanine when a uracil is called for in the virus RNA is a "mistake" as far as the virus is concerned. Each incorporation of ribavirin into the virus RNA transcription process may induce a mistake in the final virus copy, potentially rendering the final viral copy "dead".
This also causes problems for YOUR cells. Unlike the virus however, your cells are organisms AND they are part of a complementary system which supports the cells' proper health and development. This means that cells can cope with some RNA transcription problems and your body has mechanisms to control cells that can't. Interrupting RNA transcription reduces the rate at which ALL cells in your body replicate but this impacts cells that need to replicate quickly the most and hence ribavirin commonly causes conditions such as anemia (reduced red blood cell count) and neutropenia (reduced white blood cell count) among others.
Finally, this propensity for causing genetic mutations is the reason why ribavirin is a pregnancy category X drug, "strongly discouraged". Males on ribavirin may produce sperm with bad DNA, while females on the drug who get pregnant put the embryo at risk of genetic mutation since embryonic development is so dependent on super fast cell replication.
Well you have to admit Michael it's certainly much more dramatic if you are going for attention or something isn't it? Yes, next time I am going to the chiropractor I think I'll just mention to the guys at work that I'm having spinal manipulation surgery.........should be close enough an explanation since I dont want them to know my personal business.
Seriously, while on tx I said I was undergoing chemo - which at the time I did errantly really believe it was a form of.........but I've learned better from the more experienced members of this forum than I - and I don't really make that mistake any longer. Of course, I would probably still tell people I was doing 'chemo' because in this gossip mongering place it was the only way I felt I could handle the questions being thrown at me. It doesn't make what I said 'correct' but it is the reason that I did it. Two separate actions. But in here now that I know better - no. And that is why we continue to learn each and every day.
Seriously, while on tx I said I was undergoing chemo - which at the time I did errantly really believe it was a form of.........but I've learned better from the more experienced members of this forum than I - and I don't really make that mistake any longer. Of course, I would probably still tell people I was doing 'chemo' because in this gossip mongering place it was the only way I felt I could handle the questions being thrown at me. It doesn't make what I said 'correct' but it is the reason that I did it. Two separate actions. But in here now that I know better - no. And that is why we continue to learn each and every day.
I agree it could be considered "chemotherapy".
It might also be considered a "water soluble protein and anti-viral therapy".
This is all very academic in my opinion.
If you told 1000 doctors you were undergoing "chemotherapy" what percentage of them would assume you had cancer? Maybe 100%? I doubt any would say - Oh, you're treating hepatitis c.
If you told 1000 laymen that you were undergoing "chemotherapy" what percentage would assume you had cancer? Maybe 100%?
I think that common usage and common understanding prevails. Unless, of course, you're intent is to deceive someone into believing that you have/had cancer. Isn't it really that simple? People will misunderstand if you say you're undergoing chemotherapy.
Maybe we'd rather be academically intriguing than understood.
And, chemotherapy is generally a much harder to tolerate than is hep c treatment - from everything I have seen.
Mike
It might also be considered a "water soluble protein and anti-viral therapy".
This is all very academic in my opinion.
If you told 1000 doctors you were undergoing "chemotherapy" what percentage of them would assume you had cancer? Maybe 100%? I doubt any would say - Oh, you're treating hepatitis c.
If you told 1000 laymen that you were undergoing "chemotherapy" what percentage would assume you had cancer? Maybe 100%?
I think that common usage and common understanding prevails. Unless, of course, you're intent is to deceive someone into believing that you have/had cancer. Isn't it really that simple? People will misunderstand if you say you're undergoing chemotherapy.
Maybe we'd rather be academically intriguing than understood.
And, chemotherapy is generally a much harder to tolerate than is hep c treatment - from everything I have seen.
Mike
Actually, I believe that TX could be considered both immunotherapy and chemotherapy.
While IFN is a natural agent produced by the body's immune system making TX immunotherapy, Riba is an antiviral agent that acts against many ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid viruses by inhibiting protein synthesis and replication, hence a form of chemotherapy.
While IFN is a natural agent produced by the body's immune system making TX immunotherapy, Riba is an antiviral agent that acts against many ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid viruses by inhibiting protein synthesis and replication, hence a form of chemotherapy.
Well said...This is the difference in a nut shell...~MM
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