Chemotherapy
A woman being treated with docetaxel
chemotherapy for breast cancer. Cold mit-
tens and wine coolers are placed on her
hands and feet to prevent deleterious effects
on the nails. Similar strategies can be used to
prevent hair loss.
Chemotherapy, in its most general sense,
refers to treatment of disease by chemicals[1]
that kill cells, both good and bad, but spe-
cifically those of micro-organisms or cancer.
In popular usage, it refers to antineoplastic
drugs used to treat cancer or the combina-
tion of these drugs into a cytotoxic standard-
ized
treatment
regimen.
In
its
non-oncological use, the term may also refer
to antibiotics (antibacterial chemotherapy).
In that sense, the first modern chemothera-
peutic agent was Paul Ehrlich’s arsphenam-
ine, an arsenic compound discovered in 1909
and used to treat syphilis. This was later fol-
lowed by sulfonamides discovered by Do-
magk and penicillin discovered by Alexander
Fleming.
Most commonly, chemotherapy acts by
killing cells that divide rapidly, one of the
main properties of cancer cells. This means
that it also harms cells that divide rapidly un-
der normal circumstances: cells in the bone
marrow, digestive tract and hair follicles; this
results in the most common side-effects of
chemotherapy–myelosuppression (decreased
production of blood cells), mucositis (inflam-
mation of the lining of the digestive tract)
and alopecia (hair loss).
Other uses of cytostatic chemotherapy
agents (including the ones mentioned below)
are the treatment of autoimmune diseases
such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid
arthritis and the suppression of transplant re-
jections
(see
immunosuppression
and
DMARDs). Newer anticancer drugs act dir-
ectly against abnormal proteins in cancer
cells; this is termed targeted therapy.
History
Further
information: History of
cancer
chemotherapy
The usage of chemical substances and drugs
as medication can be traced back to the an-
cient Indian system of medicine called Ay-
urveda, which uses many metals besides
herbs for treatment of a