• Question: Hello, How does Chemotherapy Work Leo and Joanna?

    Asked by sarham to Jo, Leo on 25 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by sciencetube145.
    • Photo: Leo Garcia

      Leo Garcia answered on 25 Jun 2010:

      Chemotherapy works by injecting toxic drugs into the cancer patient – and these drugs attack cells which are dividing very rapidly, such as cancer cells. However, hair follicles also have rapidly dividing cells, and this is why patients on chemotherapy can lose their hair.

      One of the main goals of recent cancer research is to develop personalised targeted therapy – so that the toxic side effects of the drugs are minimized. A term often used to describe modern chemotherapy drugs are ‘magic bullets’ – which target the tumour, and only kill of cancer cells.

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