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Cancer refers to the uncontrolled growth of cells combined with malignant behavior – invasion and metastasis. It seams that the cause of the condition is a combination of genetic predisposition and the exposure to some environmental toxins. Basically, the chemotherapy drug’s functioning principle is to impair cell division (mitosis), targeting rapidly-dividing cells. The fact that these drugs destroy cells leads to their being named cytotoxic.

In broad general terms, chemotherapy kills cells by means of chemical substances. Particularly speaking, chemotherapy aims at destroying cancer and invasive micro-organisms that remain unaffected to other forms of treatment. Chemotherapy usually refers to antineoplastic drugs which are used to treat cancer or to the combination of these drugs into a cytotoxic standardized treatment regimen. From a non-oncological perspective, the term chemotherapy also refers to antibiotics – this is known as antibacterial chemotherapy.

A chemotherapy drug, or the drug cocktail established by the doctor, functions by destroying cells that divide quickly. Unfortunately, these drugs cannot make a selection between normal fast-dividing body cells and cancer cells. The collateral casualties produced by a chemotherapy drug are cells in the hair follicles, bone marrow and digestive tract. These results on the normal rapid-dividing cells are the side effects of chemotherapy: alopecia – hair loss, myelosuppression – decreased production of blood cells, and mucositis – inflammation of the digestive tract.

A chemotherapy drug could also be prescribed for the treatment of other problems such as autoimmune diseases – namely rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. There are newer anti-cancer drugs which were designed to act directly against abnormal proteins in cancer cells; this treatment option is known as targeted therapy.

When talking about a chemotherapy drug, we should be aware that there are different types available at present. Most of the drugs can be divided into alkylating agents, antimetabolites, plant alkaloids, topoisomerase inhibitors, anthracyclines, and other antitumor agents. Some newer agents, like monoclonal antibodies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, do not interfere directly with the DNA as do the above mentioned ones.

These ones target a molecular abnormality in particular types of cancer such as chronic myelogenous leukemia or gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Besides these, there is also the category of drugs that modulate the tumor cell behavior without directly attacking those cells. Within these adjuvant therapies the option very commonly used is the hormone treatment. The decision to administer only one chemotherapy drug or a combination of several medicines belongs to the doctor and it is taken depending on the stage of the disease and the purpose of the treatment.

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The pharmaceutical industry has come up with lots of chemotherapy drugs classified according to the chemical structure, the working principle and the possible associations with other medication. Most drugs are based on chemicals obtained from plants and this very origin or source leaves room to further classification. Don’t be surprised to find a drug classified in more categories, because there are many such cases in the medical world. Doctors have a very precise duty of getting fully informed about chemotherapy drugs and know how to combine them or in what order to prescribe them to cancer patients.

A first category of chemotherapy drugs is the one relying on alkylating agents. These drugs are pretty damaging to the bone marrow because they destroy the DNA to prevent the cancerous cells from reproduction. Lots of cancer cases get treated with this kind of chemotherapy drugs, with the mention that doses are always kept low because of the risk to develop leukemia up to ten years after the cessation of the treatment. Platinum based medication is classified together with alkylating agents because of the similarity in their action.

Antimetabolites are another distinct class of chemotherapy drugs. They are prescribed for the treatment of ovary and intestinal cancers, breast tumors and leukemia and they also interfere not only with the DNA but also with the RNA. The anthracyclines are another variety of chemotherapy drugs included into the antibiotic group. Their action is directed against enzymes that contribute to the DNA replication and they are encountered in a wide variety of cancer treatments.

Next is the category of inhibitors. The topoisomerase inhibitors help in separating and copying strands of DNA efficiently treating leukemia. With a more natural preponderance because of their herbal origin, mitotic inhibitors prevent the production of proteins necessary for the cancer cells growth. However, cancer patients undergo a huge risk with any chemical treatment they follow: these chemotherapy drugs may cause peripheral nerve damage to mention just one the health threats you may fear.

Finally, the corticosteroids are chemotherapy drugs based on hormones and meant to treat lymphoma, leukemia and myeloma together with other diseases. In addition to decreasing the speed of cell growth, they also have a good impact on the body’s response to chemotherapy by preventing nausea, vomiting or other types of allergic reactions. These types of drugs may be used as chemotherapy ones or not, depending on the purpose they are supposed to serve.

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