How does chemotherapy work?
Mustard gas caused unimaginable horrors in WWI, leading scientists to search for an antidote. They found that gas damaged bone marrow, stopping blood cell production. This led to research on using mustard gas derivatives to treat cancer. By the end of World War II, they discovered the first chemotherapy drugs.
Today, there are over 100 chemotherapy drugs that use toxic agents to target cancer cells that divide quickly. Two examples are alkylating agents and microtubule stabilizers.
Alkylating agents damage the building blocks of DNA’s double helix structure, which can lead to cell death. Microtubule stabilizers prevent cells from completing replication, leading to cell death.
Chemotherapy also affects healthy cells that renew rapidly, causing side effects such as hair loss, fatigue, infertility, nausea, and vomiting.
Doctors commonly prescribe options to help manage these side-effects,such as strong anti-nausea medications. And Cold caps can help prevent chemotherapy drugs from reaching hair follicles by lowering the temperature around the head and constricting blood vessels, which can reduce hair loss.