Once the Molecular Aberrations in a Cancer Are Understood, Drugs

question 11

Multiple Choice

Once the molecular aberrations in a cancer are understood, drugs can be designed with a rational approach to treat the cancer. Which of the following is NOT true regarding such drugs?

• A) The drug imatinib (Gleevec) can inhibit the chimeric tyrosine kinase Bcr-Abl in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).
• B) Even if a protein is not the product of a cancer-critical gene, drugs that specifically block its activity can be effective in curing cancer.
• C) Imatinib is most effective in treating chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in its acute blast-crisis phase.
• D) Protein kinases have turned out to be relatively easy to inhibit with small molecules.
• E) The success of imatinib relies on the phenomenon of oncogene dependence in cancer cells.