![]() ![]() Herceptin has been shown to synergistically interact with both doxorubicin and paclitaxel, though cardiotoxicity risk is increased in combination therapy ( Pegram et al., 2000). There are a number of examples of clinical synergy in the area of cancer treatment, often established between established chemotherapy agents and agents representing other classes. If two drugs act synergistically, lower doses of each drug could potentially be used which could allow for less adverse effects while still provided the desired outcome, such as cancer cell death. This potentially allows for maximizing the therapeutic effect while minimizing the adverse effect, or side effects, upon being treated with a given drug regimen ( Greco et al., 1996 Foucquier and Guedj, 2015). ![]() This is particularly true in cancer treatment. This is because many diseases require treatment that consists of “cocktails,” or mixtures of various drugs taken at once. Synergy is most often defined in relation to the realms of pharmacology and medicine. Unfortunately, in practice, it is far from that simple to quantify such interactions. Now, going back to the 1 + 0 = 2 analogy ( Berthoud, 2013 Geary, 2013), it can be asserted that there is a synergistic interaction occurring. Synergy is commonly defined as the effect of two or more agents working in combination that is greater than the expected additive effect of said agents ( Greco et al., 1996). However, that paradigm is a very basic analogy for understanding synergist interactions, or synergy. So, it's very counterintuitive to say 1 + 0 = 2, 0 + 0 = 1, or even 1 + 1 = 0. The idea that 1 + 1 = 2 is not novel and virtually agreed upon and understood throughout various academic disciplines and even different cultures around the world. Finally, we describe how methods development and terminology have developed among disciplines outside of biomedicine and pharmacology, to synthesize the literature for readers. We also discuss advantages and limitations to each method, with a focus on the Chou-Talalay Combination Index method. We then review the most common methodology for detection and quantification of synergy, including the two most prominent reference models for describing additive interactions: Loewe Additivity and Bliss Independence. In this review, we first discuss the various terminology surrounding the idea of synergy, providing a comprehensive list of terms defined across numerous disciplines. However, the idea of synergy is not limited to only the biomedical realm and these ideas have developed across many different disciplines, as well. As complex diseases, especially cancer, are being treated with various drug cocktails, understanding the interactions among these drugs is increasingly vital to ensuring successful treatment regimens. The idea of synergistic interactions between drugs and chemicals has been an important issue in the biomedical world for over a century. 3Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |