The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813.
Alfred Goodman Gilman was an American pharmacologist and biochemist. He and Martin Rodbell shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discovery of G-proteins and the role of these proteins in signal transduction in cells."
Cyclophosphamide (CP), also known as cytophosphane among other names, is a medication used as chemotherapy and to suppress the immune system. As chemotherapy it is used to treat lymphoma, multiple myeloma, leukemia, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, small cell lung cancer, neuroblastoma, and sarcoma. As an immune suppressor it is used in nephrotic syndrome, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, and following organ transplant, among other conditions. It is taken by mouth or injection into a vein.
Chlormethine, also known as mechlorethamine, mustine, HN2, and embikhin (эмбихин), is a nitrogen mustard sold under the brand name Mustargen among others. It is the prototype of alkylating agents, a group of anticancer chemotherapeutic drugs. It works by binding to DNA, crosslinking two strands and preventing cell duplication. It binds to the N7 nitrogen on the DNA base guanine. As the chemical is a blister agent, its use is strongly restricted within the Chemical Weapons Convention where it is classified as a Schedule 1 substance.
The era of cancer chemotherapy began in the 1940s with the first use of nitrogen mustards and folic acid antagonist drugs. The targeted therapy revolution has arrived, but many of the principles and limitations of chemotherapy discovered by the early researchers still apply.
Nitrogen mustards (NMs) are cytotoxic organic compounds with the bis(2-chloroethyl)amino ((ClC2H4)2NR) functional group. Although originally produced as chemical warfare agents, they were the first chemotherapeutic agents for treatment of cancer. Nitrogen mustards are nonspecific DNA alkylating agents.
Maxwell Myer Wintrobe was an Austrian-born American physician who was a 20th-century authority in the medical field of hematology and one of the pioneers of chemotherapy. His 1942 textbook on hematology, Clinical Hematology, was the first dedicated work in the field and he contributed to the diagnostic approach of anemia and copper metabolism, amongst many other achievements.
Chlorambucil, sold under the brand name Leukeran among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), Hodgkin lymphoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. For CLL it is a preferred treatment. It is given by mouth.
Goodman & Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, commonly referred to as the Blue Bible or Goodman & Gilman, is a textbook of pharmacology originally authored by Louis S. Goodman and Alfred Gilman. First published in 1941, the book is in its 14th edition, and has the reputation of being the "bible of pharmacology". The readership of this book include physicians of all therapeutic and surgical specialties, clinical pharmacologists, clinical research professionals and pharmacists.
Thiotepa (INN), sold under the brand name Tepadina among others, is an anti-cancer medication.
Estramustine phosphate (EMP), also known as estradiol normustine phosphate and sold under the brand names Emcyt and Estracyt, is a dual estrogen and chemotherapy medication which is used in the treatment of prostate cancer in men. It is taken multiple times a day by mouth or by injection into a vein.
Ifosfamide (IFO), sold under the brand name Ifex among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of types of cancer. This includes testicular cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, osteosarcoma, bladder cancer, small cell lung cancer, cervical cancer, and ovarian cancer. It is administered by injection into a vein.
Thioxanthene is a chemical compound in which the oxygen atom in xanthene is replaced with a sulfur atom. It is also related to phenothiazine. Several of its derivatives are used as typical antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenia and other psychoses.
An alkylating antineoplastic agent is an alkylating agent used in cancer treatment that attaches an alkyl group (CnH2n+1) to DNA.
Alfred Zack Gilman was an American pharmacologist best known for pioneering early chemotherapy techniques using nitrogen mustard with his colleague, Louis S. Goodman. The pair also published the classic textbook The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics in 1941, and Gilman served as an editor for its first six editions. Gilman served on the faculties of the Yale School of Medicine, the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he founded the Department of Pharmacology. He was a member of U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
Jane Cooke Wright was a pioneering cancer researcher and surgeon noted for her contributions to chemotherapy. In particular, Wright is credited with developing the technique of using human tissue culture rather than laboratory mice to test the effects of potential drugs on cancer cells. She also pioneered the use of the drug methotrexate to treat breast cancer and skin cancer.
Yale Cancer Center (YCC) was founded in 1974 as a result of an act of Congress in 1971, which declared the nation's "war on cancer". It is one of a network of 56 Comprehensive Cancer Centers designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Currently directed by Dr. Eric Winer, the Cancer Center brings together the resources of the Yale School of Medicine (YSM), Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), and the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH).
Intrinsic activity (IA) and efficacy refer to the relative ability of a drug-receptor complex to produce a maximum functional response. This must be distinguished from the affinity, which is a measure of the ability of the drug to bind to its molecular target, and the EC50, which is a measure of the potency of the drug and which is proportional to both efficacy and affinity. This use of the word "efficacy" was introduced by Stephenson (1956) to describe the way in which agonists vary in the response they produce, even when they occupy the same number of receptors. High efficacy agonists can produce the maximal response of the receptor system while occupying a relatively low proportion of the receptors in that system. There is a distinction between efficacy and intrinsic activity.
The University of Utah School of Medicine is located on the upper campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded in 1905 and is currently the only MD-granting medical school in the state of Utah.
Normustine, also known as bis(2-chloroethyl)carbamic acid, is a nitrogen mustard and alkylating antineoplastic agent. It is a metabolite of a number of antineoplastic agents that have been developed for the treatment of tumors, including estramustine phosphate, alestramustine, cytestrol acetate, and ICI-85966 (stilbostat), but only the former of which has actually been marketed.
