PATHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Usually, cancer drugs work by damaging the RNA or DNA that tells the cell how to copy itself in division. If the cancer cells are unable to divide, they die. The faster that cancer cells divide, the more likely it is that chemotherapy will kill the cells, causing the tumor to shrink.

Detailed explanation-2: -Because cancer cells divide much more often than most normal cells, chemotherapy is much more likely to kill them. Some drugs kill dividing cells by damaging the part of the cell’s control centre that makes it divide. Other drugs interrupt the chemical processes involved in cell division.

Detailed explanation-3: -Chemotherapy works by stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells, which grow and divide quickly. Chemotherapy is used for two reasons: Treat cancer: Chemotherapy can be used to cure cancer, lessen the chance it will return, or stop or slow its growth.

Detailed explanation-4: -The cell cycle is important to chemotherapy because chemotherapeutic drugs target and disrupt different phases of the cell cycle. Most chemotherapy drugs act on reproducing cells (not those in the G0 phase). Because cancer cells actively reproduce, they are primarily targeted by chemotherapeutic drugs.

Detailed explanation-5: -Alkylating agents were among the first anti-cancer drugs and are the most commonly used agents in chemotherapy today. Alkylating agents act directly on DNA, causing cross-linking of DNA strands, abnormal base pairing, or DNA strand breaks, thus preventing the cell from dividing.