Cancer
Cancer refers to the uncontrolled multiplication of abnormal cells in the body. For years now cancer has been one of the number one killer disease due to the lack of the necessary treatment and drugs to cure it. In the recent years though developments and research has been done and several drugs have been developed so as to ease the pain and in some instances to cure cancer patients .However, to-date no single specific cure of cancer has been found, this is due to the many type of cancers found. Also, the biochemical difference between cancer and normal cell in the human body is minimal. It is also not possible to have a single drug because with continuous use of a specific anticancer drug, sometimes the cancerous cell develops resistance to the drug and as a result the patient has to change to a different drug. Cancer patients will therefore use several different drugs at the same time and at varying durations so as to achieve the desired result. Pratt (2007)Different anticancer drugs have different ways in which they work and they will therefore have different effects on the normal and cancer cells in the patient’s body.
Chemotherapy drugs are used in cancer patients for cancer chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is a slow process that is done over time and it’s expected that with time, the spread and growth of this cancerous cells in the body will be stopped. With chemotherapy it’s hoped that the DNA of the cancerous cells will be destroyed, the chemotherapy drugs will inhibit the growth of new cells and hinder multiplication of cancer cells that make the tumor continue to grow. Chemotherapy also stops the cell division of cancer cells and it expected that this will ultimately stop the development of the cancer.
There are several types of chemotherapy drugs; drugs that stop the development of DNA building blocks which are; nucleotides, folic acids and heterocyclic bases which are made in the cells. When these blocks are blocked from synthesizing no new cells are created and the cancer progression is halted e.g. of such drugs are methotrixate, fluorouracil, hydrocyurea and mercaptopurine. There also are drugs that stop the mitotic spindles that are responsible for cell division. This ensures that cell division of cancerous cell does not occurs e.g. of such drugs are; Vinblastine, pacitaxel, and vincristine. The third category of drugs work by directly destroying the DNA of the cell e.g. Cisplatin, antibiotics cerubidine and Adriamycin.
The main disadvantage of the anticancer drug in inhibiting the G1 cell cycle is that the drug will also kill other healthy and normal cells that are dividing in the body e.g. cells found in the hair follicles, the bone marrow and the digestive tract. This results to common the cancer patient having side effects like hair loss, inflamed lining of the digestive tract (mucositis), and a reduction in blood cell production. Other effects include; dry and reddened skin, damaged finger nails and impotence.
In the recent years newer drugs have been formulated to deal with the specific abnormal cell in the cancer cells. This is what is now known as target therapy. In this method of treatment only the cells with the carcinogenic and tumor growths are affected, this method is effective as the normal rapidly developing cells are not affected during treatment. Target therapies and treatment are believed to be the way to go in the treatment of cancer patients as the side effects are significantly reduced. Oncologists are still working on personalizing the medicines such that after administering the target therapy, patients will be closely monitored to find out which specific drug(s) they respond to. In future therefore, it will be possible to give a specific type of chemotherapy treatment to a specific type of cancer. Buolamwini (2003)
Reference:
Pratt, W.B., Ruddon, R.W. (2007) the anticancer drug. Oxford university press
Buolamwini, K.J. (2003) novel anticancer drug protocols. Humana press
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