Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is cancer treatment with drugs that kill cancer cells or inhibit their growth. Many chemotherapy drugs damage DNA or disrupt cell division, affecting some healthy cells as well.

Alkylating agents: Cancer drugs that damage DNA by adding alkyl groups, preventing cells from copying or repairing it. They illustrate how chemotherapy can stop tumor growth by damaging genetic material.
Adjuvant therapy: Treatment given after primary cancer treatment to reduce the risk that cancer will return. Chemotherapy can target cancer cells remaining after surgery or radiation.
Myelosuppression: Reduced production of blood cells by the bone marrow. Chemotherapy can suppress marrow cells, lowering infection-fighting white cells and other blood counts.
Targeted therapy: Cancer treatment that acts on specific molecular features involved in tumor growth or survival. Unlike many chemotherapy drugs, it focuses on particular molecular targets in cancer cells.
Antimetabolites: Drugs that resemble cellular building blocks and interfere with DNA or RNA synthesis. Their false building blocks disrupt the replication that rapidly dividing cancer cells require.
Neoadjuvant therapy: Treatment given before the main treatment, often to shrink a tumor or make it easier to remove. Chemotherapy can reduce tumor size before surgery or radiation.
Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: Nausea and vomiting caused by anticancer drug treatment. These common effects can often be reduced with preventive medicines.
Immunotherapy: Treatment that helps the immune system recognize or attack cancer. It recruits immune defenses rather than directly disrupting cell division in the usual chemotherapy manner.
Mitotic inhibitors: Cancer drugs that disrupt structures needed for chromosome separation during cell division. They block division directly rather than primarily damaging DNA.
Combination chemotherapy: The use of multiple anticancer drugs with different actions in one treatment plan. Combining drugs can attack tumors through distinct mechanisms and limit resistance.

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