Drugs Used for Cancer Patients

Chemotherapy is the general term for drugs used to stop the growth of cancer cells. It works throughout the body, and therefore is often referred to as systemic treatment. Over half of patients diagnosed with cancer are treated with chemotherapy at some point (chemotherapy.com). Many different drugs are used in chemotherapy, and they are grouped into various classes depending on their mode of action. It can be given orally or intravenously, or directly put into a body cavity, depending on the drug and type of cancer.

Cancer Treatment

• Cancer is treated in a variety of ways, depending on what kind of cancer an individual has, how advanced it is and the individual circumstances and wishes of the patient and her family. The main forms of treatment are surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormonal therapies and biologic therapy. Newer forms of treatment that are being evaluated include immunotherapy and targeted therapies. More than one modality may be used, sometimes together or consecutively.

Chemotherapy

• Chemotherapy first started being used in cancer patients in the 1940s, when nitrogen mustard was used to treat lymphoma. Chemotherapy drugs affect the cycles that cells, particularly cancer cells, go through in order to replicate. The drugs disrupt the cycle and aim to kill the cancer cells so they cannot multiply. Patients are often put on schedules, or regimens, of chemotherapy. These consist of planned weeks of active treatment, as well as weeks without drug administration, in order to let the body repair itself and prepare for the next cycle.

Types

• Chemotherapeutic drugs are categorized by how they work on the cells and the cell cycle.

  Alkylating agents work on the bases of DNA and cause the helix, or the structure of DNA, to break, and therefore make the cell unable to replicate. Some drugs in this class include cyclophosphomide, cisplatin and carboplatin, and nitrogen mustard.

  Antimetabolites interfere with the production of enzymes that help synthesize DNA and RNA. Drugs that are antimetabolites include 5-fluorouracil (5FU), capecitabine and gemcitabine.

  Vinca alkaloids keep cells from replicating by interfering with mitosis, or cell division. Vincristine and vinblastine are commonly used drugs in this category.

  Antitumor antibiotics attach to DNA and cause it to unwind. Doxorubicin (Adriamycin) and idarubicin are examples of this class of drugs.

  Taxanes are chemotherapy agents that disrupt structures in the cell that are used during replication, which prevents the cell from multiplying. Paclitaxel (Taxol) and docetaxel are drugs that are taxanes.

  There are also drugs that do not fit into a category because they act on the cell cycle specifically, instead of cell division, or they may affect protein, or RNA synthesis. This is not a comprehensive list of drugs, as new advances are constantly being made; however, these are the main categories used in chemotherapy.

Monoclonal antibodies

• Monoclonal antibodies are newer chemotherapeutic drugs, the most well-known one being Herceptin, used in breast cancer. These drugs are proteins that can find and attach themselves to cancer cells (cancer.gov). Each antibody drug looks for a specific type of cell, and then binds to it and tries to kill it.

Antiangiogenesis drugs

• Newer types of drugs that are currently being evaluated include drugs that act on antiangiogenesis factors, or the formation of blood vessels (cancer.gov). These drugs stop new blood vessels from forming in tumors, which prevents blood flow to the tumor. This prevents the tumor from being "nourished".

Warning

• Due to the individual nature of each patient and her treatment, if you have any concerns, they should be discussed with your oncologist. These drugs are very powerful and each person responds differently to them, and the drugs your doctor chooses are tailored to you and your disease.