How do chemotherapeutic drugs work?

Answer 1

Chemotherapy works by the patient being administered the drug, either orally or intravenously. The drug targets cancer cells by a number of ways, but all aim to reduce the tumour's ability to grow and replicate. There are often side effects from these drugs as healthy cells in the body can also be affected, but most often these include nausea and vomitting, and tiredness.

Answer 2

Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with drugs that can destroy cancer cells by impeding their growth and reproduction. These drugs often are called "anticancer" drugs.

Answer 3

Chemotherapy can be used to cure or control the spread of the cancer. It can also

be used in a palliative manner to control the symptoms of cancer. Finally chemotherapy can be used to make cancer more sensitive to radiotherapy.

Answer 4

The chemotherapy drug works to thwart cancer cells by disrupting key enzymes involved in cellular metabolism. The cellular disruption results in increases in the amount of zinc available inside the cancer cells, and because zinc is involved in protein structure and function, leads to inhibition of enzyme activity and to the death of the cells. the drug also created oxidative stress in the tumor cells, increasing the levels of expression of the genes that produce metallothioneins.the increased metallothionein expression levels resulted from significantly increased levels of free-i.e., not protein-bound-zinc in the cells. The zinc, in turn, acted to inhibit an enzyme-thioredoxin reductase-that is an important component in the cell's antioxidant system, as well as important in DNA synthesis. In other words, thioredoxin reductase is key to the replication and survival of cells, and its inhibition ultimately leads to cell death.

Answer 5

Most anticancer drugs work by interfering with DNA synthesis (so RNA and protein synthesis are also disrupted) and this stops cells from dividing.

Tumour is formed by uncontrolled/abnormal proliferation of cancer cells. Therefore, by stopping DNA synthesis, anticancer drugs kill tumour cells that are rapidly dividing.

Unfortunately, cells in our body such as epithelial cells that line the GI tract and myeloid cells in bone marrow are also rapidly dividing cells. Hence, anticancer drugs commonly cause bone marrow suppresion and GI toxicity.

Answer 6

no, you just lose all your hair and puke. Watch My Sisters keeper and find out more

Answer 7

Chemotherapy is curative for only a small percentage of cancers. It is most effective for choriocarcinoma, cancer of the testis, some types of lymphomas, and cancer of skeletal muscles.

Answer 8

One effect is that it causes hair loss.