Aprepitant is a designer medication that was made to be the end-all, be-all in pain relief by antagonizing Substance P, a neurotransmitter associated with nociceptive (pain) responses, among others. It was horrible at that. They then tried using it as an antidepressant and it failed miserably again. Showing true determination (or desperately trying not to write-off a billion dollars in useless research) they tried it on chemotherapy induced nausea and I am so glad they did. It actually worked. And 9 years later, a young man with Hodgkin's lymphoma was finally put on it after weeks of crippling chemo-induced nausea.
That story snuck up on me in class. It was only after I looked up the generic name for the drug that I put together that I had just heard to origin story of my pharmaceutical savior from a couple years ago. Then, in part out of sentimentality and in part because the lecture was (present story excluded) supremely uninteresting, I started thinking about how far 2 years has brought me.
One of the anecdotes the professor used to explain chemo-induced nausea and its complex relationship with diverse brain structures was that cancer patients can often feel nauseated just walking into the hospital. This hit really close to home. There was a time during my treatment that I was seriously concerned that I might not be able to pursue my dream of practicing medicine because that sterile hospital smell made me want to puke. It was maddening. My very logical brain knew as I shuffled down the hall that I hadn't yet received any medication and that I had worked, volunteered, and sniffed around for thousands of hours in hospitals. My brain was betraying me and making me hate and fear something that I loved.
The other less-than-happy feeling was some sort of unreasonable guilt for not having received an acceptance to medical school. Every week the nurses and doctors would look expectantly when I opened the door, ask if I had gotten in, and every week I disappointed them. I didn't get in that year, but the celebration was wonderful a year later when, as a volunteer in remission, I came into the unit and went to my favorite nurse. I asked her to ask me the question one last time. After a brief pause and confused look, I got the biggest teary-eyed hug. And not a year after that, I'm learning about the treatments I was receiving so recently in that very unit.
So to sum-up: lecture was really boring this morning.
TIL: Many neuropeptides are aminated at the C-terminus to avoid decomposition by carboxypeptidases.
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| I do not miss this hair-style |
One of the anecdotes the professor used to explain chemo-induced nausea and its complex relationship with diverse brain structures was that cancer patients can often feel nauseated just walking into the hospital. This hit really close to home. There was a time during my treatment that I was seriously concerned that I might not be able to pursue my dream of practicing medicine because that sterile hospital smell made me want to puke. It was maddening. My very logical brain knew as I shuffled down the hall that I hadn't yet received any medication and that I had worked, volunteered, and sniffed around for thousands of hours in hospitals. My brain was betraying me and making me hate and fear something that I loved.
The other less-than-happy feeling was some sort of unreasonable guilt for not having received an acceptance to medical school. Every week the nurses and doctors would look expectantly when I opened the door, ask if I had gotten in, and every week I disappointed them. I didn't get in that year, but the celebration was wonderful a year later when, as a volunteer in remission, I came into the unit and went to my favorite nurse. I asked her to ask me the question one last time. After a brief pause and confused look, I got the biggest teary-eyed hug. And not a year after that, I'm learning about the treatments I was receiving so recently in that very unit.
So to sum-up: lecture was really boring this morning.
TIL: Many neuropeptides are aminated at the C-terminus to avoid decomposition by carboxypeptidases.
Melanocortin receptors are all G-protein-linked receptors which increase cAMP levels.
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