Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses powerful medications to kill cancer cells. These drugs work by targeting fast-growing cells, which is a hallmark of cancer.
However, because some normal cells also divide rapidly, such as those in bone marrow, the digestive tract, and hair follicles, chemotherapy can affect these healthy cells as well, leading to various side effects.
How Chemotherapy Works.
Chemotherapy drugs function through several different mechanisms to destroy cancer cells and prevent their growth.
Rather than acting through a single pathway, cancer cells can be targeted through DNA damage, inhibition of cell division machinery, or activation of programmed cell death (apoptosis).
The effectiveness of these drugs relies on their ability to disrupt the uncontrolled proliferation that characterizes cancer cells.
MBH/PS