Cancer Chemotherapy

Normally, your cells grow and die in a controlled way. Cancer cells keep forming without control. Chemotherapy is drug therapy that can stop these cells from multiplying. However, it can also harm healthy cells, which causes side effects.

During chemotherapy you may have no side effects or just a few. The kinds of side effects you have depend on the type and dose of chemotherapy you get. Side effects vary, but common ones are nausea, vomiting, tiredness, pain and hair loss. Healthy cells usually recover after chemotherapy, so most side effects gradually go away.

Your course of therapy will depend on the cancer type, the chemotherapy drugs used, the treatment goal and how your body responds. You may get treatment every day, every week or every month. You may have breaks between treatments so that your body has a chance to build new healthy cells. You might take the drugs by mouth, in a shot or intravenously.

National Cancer Institute

History Of Cancer Chemotherapy on Wikipedia

The era of chemotherapy began in the 1940s with the first uses of nitrogen_mustard and antifolate drugs. Cancer drug development since then has exploded into a multi-billion dollar industry. The targeted-therapy revolution has arrived, but the principles and limitations of chemotherapy discovered by the early researchers still apply.

The first efforts (1940–1950)

The beginnings of the modern era of chemotherapy can be traced directly to the discovery of nitrogen mustard as an effective treatment for cancer. In 1942, two pharmacist, Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman were recruited by the United States Department of Defence to investigate potential therapeutic applications of chemical warfare agents. Autopsy observations of victims of Mustard gas had revealed profound lymphoid and myeloid suppression. Goodman and Gilman reasoned that this agent could be used to treat lymphoma, since lymphoma is a tumor of lymphoid cells. They first set up an animal model - they established lymphomas in mouse and demonstrated they could treat them with Mustard agents. Next, in collaboration with a thoracic surgeon, Gustav Linskog, they injected a related agent, Nitrogen Mustard, into a patient with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. They observed a dramatic reduction in the patient's tumour masses. Although this effect lasted only a few weeks, this was the first step to the realization that cancer could be treated by pharmacological agents.

Another leap forward - The antifolates

, after whom the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is named Shortly after World War II, a second approach to drug therapy of cancer began. Sidney Farber, a pathologist at Harvard Medical School studied the effects of folic acid on leukemia patients. Folic acid, a vitamin crucial for DNA metabolism had been discovered by Lucy Wills ... [ Read More ]

External Resources

Sacred Choices - Alternative breast cancer treatments, natural holistic healing, homeopathic medicine, and how they relate to breast cancer. How to deal with the ravages of chemotherapy.

How We Cured My Prostate Cancer - Describes an alternative approach, without surgery, radiation or chemotherapy - or side effects.

Quantum Leap Cancer Series - Audio program using visualization techniques to destroy cancer cells, reduce stress, and give relief during chemotherapy.

Headcovers Unlimited - Hats, wigs, turbans, scarves and caps designed for medical hair loss due to chemotherapy or alopecia. Also offers gifts for cancer patients.

BioFunding Summit 2005: Anti-Cancer Innovations and Collaborations - Topics include finding investors, locating molecular markers and chemotherapy. Meeting hosted by the National Foundation for Cancer Research, International Genomics Consortium and the Scientist magazine. held for three days in Beijing, China.

ProCertus BioPharm, Inc. - Developing products that: 1) Protect humans against the debilitating side effects of cancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and 2) Protect animals and humans against lethal gastrointestinal pathogens and carcinogens.

Coley Pharmaceutical Group (CPG) - Developing innovative therapeutic and prophylactic products that harness the power of the immune system to treat cancer, allergy, asthma and infectious diseases, and help accelerate recovery of the immune system after cancer chemotherapies.

Flurizan (MPC-7869) - Chemotherapy for prevention and treatment of prostate, colon, and other cancers. It has completed Phase IIa human clinical trialsite-from Myriad Genetics, Inc.

Coalition of National Cancer Cooperative Groups - Resource for clinical trials and research. Information about experimental anticancer drugs, chemotherapy treatment and cooperative groups.

WebMD Health: Cancer - Consumer health site which includes information for the newly diagnosed, as well as for those coping with chemotherapy.

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