Chemotherapy – Cancer cell destruction and Mechanism
Chemotherapy drugs are used to halt the division and reproduction of cancer cells, but can also damage some of the more sensitive normal cells, such as bone marrow. The cancer cells cannot survive after attack by chemotherapy drugs.
Each chemotherapy drugs has a unique mode of killing the cancer cells. Certain cancers, prostate cancer, for instance, develop resistance to a single chemotherapy agent and so, a combination of drugs may be more successful. . There are over 200 drugs used in as many as 50 combinations.
Typically, chemotherapy is administered intravenously. Treatments are given in a series, usually once every two or three weeks. This allows a ‘rest period’ for the patient, recovering from side effects. Directly after chemotherapy, an anti-sickness medication is given to lessen the unpleasant side effects.
Chemotherapy has the potential to completely cure the disease by destroying all the cancer cells. Sometimes a course of treatment is extended; this is to eliminate possible cancer cells that are too small for detection.
Strategies for Chemotherapy use
Chemotherapy is used pre-operatively to shrink the tumor, making surgery less invasive. In a post-operative treatment, chemotherapy is almost used as a preventive, to kill any cells which are too small for removal during surgery. Some cancers cannot be completely removed during surgery. In this case, chemotherapy is used, not as a cure, but to reduce the tumor.
In cooperation with radiation, chemotherapy works together to more quickly eradicate cancer. Bone marrow transplants are indicated when using high-dose chemotherapy. A major side effect of the high-dose therapy is the destruction of bone marrow. Stem cells are used to replace the bone marrow.
Mechanisms of Cancer Cell Destruction
As stated earlier, chemotherapy drugs were used on unique areas of the cancer cell. The older drugs cause unpleasant side effect but the new drugs target the outer cell wall of the cancer cell and the reproductive mechanism of the cell.
Most often, chemotherapy drugs are used in combination with each other, surgery, radiation, hormone therapy. Since each person and cancer is unique, the treatment must be unique as well.