Chemotherapy is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs in a standard regimen. Chemotherapy may be given with a curative intent, or it may aim only to prolong life or to reduce symptoms. Chemotherapy is one of the major categories of the medical discipline specifically devoted to pharmacotherapy for cancer, which is called medical oncology.
S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM), also known under the commercial names of SAMe, SAM-e, or AdoMet, is a common cosubstrate involved in methyl group transfers, transsulfuration, and aminopropylation. Although these anabolic reactions occur throughout the body, most SAM is produced and consumed in the liver. More than 40 methyl transfers from SAM are known, to various substrates such as nucleic acids, proteins, lipids and secondary metabolites. It is made from adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and methionine by methionine adenosyltransferase. SAM was first discovered by Giulio Cantoni in 1952.
Hydroxycarbamide, also known as hydroxyurea, is an antimetabolite medication used in sickle-cell disease, essential thrombocythemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, polycythemia vera, and cervical cancer. In sickle-cell disease it increases fetal hemoglobin and decreases the number of attacks. It is taken by mouth.
An antimetabolite is a chemical that inhibits the use of a metabolite, which is another chemical that is part of normal metabolism. Such substances are often similar in structure to the metabolite that they interfere with, such as the antifolates that interfere with the use of folic acid; thus, competitive inhibition can occur, and the presence of antimetabolites can have toxic effects on cells, such as halting cell growth and cell division, so these compounds are used in chemotherapy for cancer.
Azacitidine, sold under the brand name Vidaza among others, is a medication used for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome, myeloid leukemia, and juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia. It is a chemical analog of cytidine, a nucleoside in DNA and RNA. Azacitidine and its deoxy derivative, decitabine were first synthesized in Czechoslovakia as potential chemotherapeutic agents for cancer.
Oxaliplatin, sold under the brand name Eloxatin among others, is a cancer medication used to treat colorectal cancer. It is given by infusion into a vein.
Nitrogen mustards (NMs) are cytotoxic organic compounds with the bis(2-chloroethyl)amino ((ClC2H4)2NR) functional group. Although originally produced as chemical warfare agents, they were the first chemotherapeutic agents for treatment of cancer. Nitrogen mustards are nonspecific DNA alkylating agents.
Teniposide is a chemotherapeutic medication used in the treatment of childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), Hodgkin's lymphoma, certain brain tumours, and other types of cancer. It is in a class of drugs known as podophyllotoxin derivatives and slows the growth of cancer cells in the body.
The mitomycins are a family of aziridine-containing natural products isolated from Streptomyces caespitosus or Streptomyces lavendulae. They include mitomycin A, mitomycin B, and mitomycin C. When the name mitomycin occurs alone, it usually refers to mitomycin C, its international nonproprietary name. Mitomycin C is used as a medicine for treating various disorders associated with the growth and spread of cells.
Mitomycin C is a mitomycin that is used as a chemotherapeutic agent by virtue of its antitumour activity.
Altretamine, also called hexamethylmelamine, is an antineoplastic agent. It was approved by the U.S. FDA in 1990.
In genetics, crosslinking of DNA occurs when various exogenous or endogenous agents react with two nucleotides of DNA, forming a covalent linkage between them. This crosslink can occur within the same strand (intrastrand) or between opposite strands of double-stranded DNA (interstrand). These adducts interfere with cellular metabolism, such as DNA replication and transcription, triggering cell death. These crosslinks can, however, be repaired through excision or recombination pathways.
An alkylating antineoplastic agent is an alkylating agent used in cancer treatment that attaches an alkyl group (CnH2n+1) to DNA.
Rebeccamycin (NSC 655649) is a weak topoisomerase I inhibitor isolated from Nocardia bacteria. It is structurally similar to staurosporine, but does not show any inhibitory activity against protein kinases. It shows significant antitumor properties in vitro (IC50=480nM against mouse B16 melanoma cells and IC50=500nM against P388 leukemia cells). It is an antineoplastic antibiotic and an intercalating agent.
Semustine is an alkylating nitrosourea compound used in chemotherapy treatment of various types of tumours. Due to its lipophilic property, semustine can cross the blood-brain barrier for the chemotherapy of brain tumours, where it interferes with DNA replication in the rapidly-dividing tumour cells. Semustine, just as lomustine, is administered orally. Evidence has been found that treatment with semustine can cause acute leukaemia as a delayed effect in very rare cases.
Epitiostanol, sold under the brand name Thiodrol, is an injected antiestrogen and anabolic–androgenic steroid (AAS) of the dihydrotestosterone (DHT) group which was described in the literature in 1965 and has been marketed in Japan as an antineoplastic agent for the treatment of breast cancer since 1977.
Platinum-based antineoplastic drugs are chemotherapeutic agents used to treat cancer. Their active moieties are coordination complexes of platinum. These drugs are used to treat almost half of people receiving chemotherapy for cancer. In this form of chemotherapy, commonly used drugs include cisplatin, oxaliplatin, and carboplatin, but several have been proposed or are under development. Addition of platinum-based chemotherapy drugs to chemoradiation in women with early cervical cancer seems to improve survival and reduce risk of recurrence.
Antineoplastic resistance, often used interchangeably with chemotherapy resistance, is the resistance of neoplastic (cancerous) cells, or the ability of cancer cells to survive and grow despite anti-cancer therapies. In some cases, cancers can evolve resistance to multiple drugs, called multiple drug resistance.
Tazemetostat, sold under the brand name Tazverik, is a medication used for the treatment of adults and adolescents aged 16 years and older with metastatic or locally advanced epithelioid sarcoma not eligible for complete resection.
Lobaplatin is a platinum-based antineoplastic metallodrug approved exclusively in China for the treatment of small cell lung cancer, inoperable metastatic breast cancer and chronic myelogenous leukaemia. The drug is a third-generation analogue of cisplatin, the first globally approved and widely used platinum-based anticancer drug.
