Treatment strategies / Combination chemotherapy COMBINATION CHEMOTHERAPY
- principles of drug selection:
- active when used alone
different mechanisms of action (including different mechanisms for the development of resistance) and/or different chemical classes - CCNS vs. CCS or active in different stages of cell cycle
- different toxicities
-
enables use of more specific strategies (recruitment and synchrony)
- can result in:
- synergistic effects (effect greater than the sum of the actions of the individual drugs) à lower doses à decreased toxicity
- e.g., CYTARABINE + 6-THIOGUANINE
- decreased development of resistance
- broader cell kill in cancers that consist of a heterogeneous turmor cell population