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Drugs Used in Cancer Chemotherapy

According to the National Cancer Institute more than 450,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with invasive cancer of some type in 2006. As cancer progresses and spreads through the lymph system to other parts of the body, it can be nearly impossible to surgically remove the cancer cells. In this case, chemotherapy drugs can be used to travel throughout the body and target all cancer cells in a single treatment method.

  1. Mitotic Inhibitors

    • One type of commonly used chemotherapy drug is called mitotic inhibitors. Mitotic inhibitors are naturally synthesized products from plant alkaloids. Mitotic inhibitors target cancer cells and stop mitosis--the splitting and reproduction of the cancer cell--by inhibiting the enzymes needed for the process to take place.

    Topoisomerase Inhibitors

    • An important enzyme needed by cancer cells to divide and spread is called topoisomerases. Topoisomerases is used by the cancer cell to help split the DNA needed for a new cell. Topoisomerases inhibitors work by depriving cancer cells of the enzyme needed to reproduce.

    Anthracyclines

    • Anthracyclines are a type of antibiotic that has been shown to interfere with the enzyme production needed for cancer cells to grow. Because this particular chemotherapy drug can work regardless of what phase of duplication the cell is in, it can be widely used for most types of cancers without needing to pay as much attention to when the cancer cell is most vulnerable.

    Antimetabolites

    • Antimetabolites are one of the most common chemotherapy drugs used for the treatment of cancer. Antimetabolites work by interfering with the building blocks of both RNA and DNA. Cancer cells need specific genetic building blocks to divide and spread. Antimetabolites substitute themselves for the normal genetic building blocks, making the cancer cell unable to survive.

    Alkylating agents

    • Alkylating agents are also one of the most popular types of chemotherapy drugs. Alkylating agents work by directly attacking and damaging cancer cell DNA, killing them in the process. Though alkylating agents are some of the most successful chemotherapy drugs, they also cause the most damage to other cells in the body. Since they do not differentiate between cancer cells and other healthy body cells, alkylating agents at high enough doses can do damage to important cells in the body, especially bone marrow cells.

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