Related topics: cancer , cancer cells
Chemotherapy
hideChemotherapy, in its most general sense, refers to treatment of disease by chemicals that kill cells, both good and bad, but specifically those of micro-organisms or cancerous tumours. In popular usage, it refers to antineoplastic drugs used to treat cancer or the combination of these drugs into a cytotoxic standardized treatment regimen. In its non-oncological use, the term may also refer to antibiotics (antibacterial chemotherapy). In that sense, the first modern chemotherapeutic agent was Paul Ehrlich's arsphenamine, an arsenic compound discovered in 1909 and used to treat syphilis. This was later followed by sulfonamides discovered by Domagk 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 under 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 (inflammation 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 rejections (see immunosuppression and DMARDs). Newer anticancer drugs act directly against abnormal proteins in cancer cells; this is termed targeted therapy.
For more information about Chemotherapy, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with chemotherapy
Smart drug delivery system -- Gold nanocage covered with polymer (w/ Video)
Nov 01, 2009 |
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In campy old movies, Lucretia Borgia swans around emptying powder from her ring into wine glasses carelessly left unattended. The poison ring is usually a confection of gold filigree holding a cabochon or ...
Magnetic nanotags spot cancer in mice earlier than methods now in clinical use
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Oct 13, 2009 |
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Searching for biomarkers that can warn of diseases such as cancer while they are still in their earliest stage is likely to become far easier thanks to an innovative biosensor chip developed by Stanford University ...
Breakthrough holds promise for development of effective cancer therapies
Sep 02, 2009 |
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Researchers Dr. Marc Therrien at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Université de Montréal, and Dr. Frank Sicheri, at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital ...
New Hope for Deadly Childhood Bone Cancer
Aug 31, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah have shed new light on Ewing’s sarcoma, an often deadly bone cancer that typically afflicts children and young adults. Their research ...
Implantable Device Offers Continuous Cancer Monitoring
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Jul 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Surgical removal of a tissue sample is now the standard for diagnosing cancer. Such procedures, known as biopsies, are accurate but offer only a snapshot of the tumor at a single moment in time.
Hi-tech 'Trojan horse' can kill cancer cells: researchers
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Jun 29, 2009 |
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Australian researchers are set to begin human trials of a tiny nano-cell that acts as a "Trojan horse" against cancer cells, a breakthrough they say may curb the need for debilitating chemotherapy.
Immune therapies finally working against cancer
May 31, 2009 |
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(AP) -- First there was surgery, then chemotherapy and radiation. Now, doctors have overcome 30 years of false starts and found success with a fourth way to fight cancer: using the body's natural defender, ...
Nanoparticles May Help Optimize Chemotherapy
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
May 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A research group reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they have engineered nanoparticles to help block a protein process that takes place in tumors, making the tu ...
Scientists find how cancer cells become resistant to chemotherapy
Mar 26, 2009 |
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A research team at the Scripps Research Institute has obtained the first glimpse of a protein that keeps certain substances, including many drugs, out of cells. The protein, called P-glycoprotein or P-gp for short, is one ...
Nanotubes Sniff Out Cancer Agents in Living Cells
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Jan 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A multidisciplinary team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed carbon nanotubes that can be used as sensors for cancer drugs and other DNA-damaging agents inside living cells. The ...
Tiny magnetic discs could kill cancer cells: study
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
1hour ago |
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Tiny magnetic discs just a millionth of a metre in diameter could be used to used to kill cancer cells, according to a study published on Sunday.
Magnetic Nanotags Spot Cancer in Mice Earlier Than Current Methods
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Searching for biomarkers that can warn of diseases such as cancer while they are still in their earliest stage is likely to become far easier thanks to an innovative biosensor chip developed by Stanford University ...
Drug shrinks lung cancer tumors in mice
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A potential new drug for lung cancer has eliminated tumours in 50% of mice in a new study published today in the journal Cancer Research. In the animals, the drug also stopped lung cancer ...
Targeting tumors: Researchers develop more precise approach to delivery of chemotherapy drugs
Oct 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Chemotherapy is one of the most effective ways to fight cancer, but the toxic medicine can cause collateral damage to healthy tissue. UC Irvine's Kenneth Longmuir, physiology & biophysics ...
Scientists find missing puzzle piece of powerful DNA repair complex
Oct 01, 2009 |
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Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have found, crystallized, and biologically characterized a poorly defined component of a key molecular complex that helps people to avoid cancer, but that also ...
