Biology Forums - Study Force

Could someone please briefly explain how chemotherapy works and targets cancer cells be it an intravenous therapy or irradiation. And if there are any charts that show at what stage the cancer cells are targeted or what happens physiologically.

Thank you very much :)

In the broad sense, most chemotherapeutic drugs work by impairing mitosis (cell division), effectively targeting fast-dividing cells. As these drugs cause damage to cells, they are termed cytotoxic. They prevent mitosis by various mechanisms including damaging DNA and inhibition of the cellular machinery involved in cell division. One theory as to why these drugs kill cancer cells is that they induce a programmed form of cell death known as apoptosis.

As chemotherapy affects cell division, tumors with high growth rates (such as acute myelogenous leukemia and the aggressive lymphomas, including Hodgkin's disease) are more sensitive to chemotherapy, as a larger proportion of the targeted cells are undergoing cell division at any time. Malignancies with slower growth rates, such as indolent lymphomas, tend to respond to chemotherapy much more modestly. Heterogeneic tumours may also display varying sensitivities to chemotherapy agents, depending on the subclonal populations within the tumor.

I believe the mechanism of action for each type is different according to Wikipedia...

Alkylating agents
Antimetabolites
Anti-microtubule agents
Topoisomerase inhibitors
Cytotoxic antibiotics

Thank you bioman =)

I'm here for you! By the way, I'm addicted to the violin song you posted.

Aww Thank you so very much! You've been a big help to my academic emotional turmoil this semester  :angel:

If you enjoyed the violin version, take a look at this version.. It's got me hooked as well  ;)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE9MbYqg9Ak  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE9MbYqg9Ak)