Abstract
Cancer chemotherapy is defined as the application of drugs that cause a lethal cytotoxic effect on malignant (cancerous) cells so as to arrest tumour cell progression. The cancer therapeutic agents can be Cell Cycle Specific (CCS) or Cell Cycle Non-Specific (CCNS) agents. Apart from complete cancer eradication (curative therapy), there are other modalities of cancer chemotherapy that are used for different purposes, such as salvage (rescue) therapy, adjuvant chemotherapy (post-operative), primary or neoadjuvant chemotherapy (pre-operative), palliative chemotherapy, direct instillation chemotherapy, and chemoradiotherapy. The two major determinants of anticancer chemotherapeutics usage are the occurrence of toxicities and resistance. Various local toxicities and systemic toxicities, including haematopoietic, gastrointestinal, nervous, metabolic, hepatic, cardiac, renal, urinary, pulmonary, reproductive, dermatological, and ocular toxicities are elaborated. Further, the several mechanisms behind anticancer drug resistance are also discussed.
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Priyadarshini, R. (2021). General Principles of Cancer Chemotherapy. In: Paul, A., Anandabaskar, N., Mathaiyan, J., Raj, G.M. (eds) Introduction to Basics of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6009-9_62
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