If a person has a low WBC count, they will be prone to infection. This is associated with cancer chemotherapy because it reduces WBC count in the bone marrow. This is the big problem with cancer chemotherapy because while it kills a lot of cancer cells, the patient can’t go through chemotherapy again until their WBC goes back up so they maintain the ability to fight infections.
Amgen came through again, developing a genetically engineered drug that promotes the production of granulocytes (neutrophils). They created a product called filgrastim (Neupogen). So cancer chemotherapy patients could get this weekly injection and their WBC count comes up really fast, not giving their cancer cells enough time to recover. This gives people a better chance to get into remission.
Recap
- Prone to infections
- Associated with cancer chemotherapy
- Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor: Filgrastim (Neupogen) – inj
