Introduction to Treating Cancer

In this section of Magic Bullets you will find powerful stories about cancer drug discovery, two lab activities that simulate important elements in the drug development process, a class research and discussion activity, as well as an Internet-based scavenger hunt. This section allows you to focus on both the processes and the people involved in the development of drugs that can be used to treat cancer.

The introductory reading is an overview of cancer treatment methods. These stories can be "bundled" with the biographies of Hitchings, Elion, and Ehrlich to give a kind of "case history" of cancer drug discovery. The readings are accompanied by suggested activities.

The content of the two lab activities addresses standard chemistry content. Separating mixtures is often a topic in a general high school chemistry course, but if you introduce the lab in the context of a researcher like Monroe Wall—who first extracted Taxol^® from the Pacific yew tree—you can illuminate a process important to drug discovery. Similarly, the esterification lab is an "old standard" for instruction in organic chemistry, but applying the process to the more general idea of how chemists synthesize molecules that have specific properties allows students to better understand drug design and development.

The topic for the simulated Senate debate is the development of Taxol^® as a cancer drug. Although Taxol^® has been synthesized—making drug manufacturers less dependent on the bark of the yew tree for its starting material—a structured debate has continued relevance. The issues are being revisited constantly as researchers look for other possible active ingredients in plants and animals.

The scavenger hunt allows students to work on the Internet researching cancer-related topics.

In this module you will find:

Methods of Treatment: Choosing a Weapon (R)
Alkylating Agents: The Janus Effect (R)
Antibiotics: Dr. Hamao Umezawa (R)
Cisplatin: The Platinum Standard (B)
Vinblastine: From Jamaica to a Cure (B)
Hormone Therapy: Our Best Friend to the Rescue (R)


Taxol® and Yew: A WebQuest Senate Debate (C)
Separating Cherry Cola: A Simulation (L)
Designer Molecules: Esterification (L)
Cyber Scavenger Hunt (I)