What are the different types of chemotherapy drugs?

Alkylating agents, anti metabolites and phytoalkaloids are some of the types of chemotherapy drugs Doctors may also use anthracyclines to treat different forms of cancer All chemotherapy drugs have one goal: to kill cancer cells To do this, most drugs are aimed at the ability of cells to divide - the uncontrolled mitosis of cancer cells The faster the cells divide, the more likely chemotherapy drugs are to target them, which is why hair follicles and other cells that divide at normal speed will also be affected In order to mitosis, a cell must first copy its DNA and then separate into two identical daughter cells Many chemotherapy drugs act on altered or damaged cell DNA, because in the case of fully altered or damaged cells will undergo a programmed death process (also known as apoptosis) Each chemotherapy drug achieves its goal in a different way Anthracyclines, for example, work by inserting DNA double helix nucleotides and causing free radical damage This interrupts DNA self replication and intracellular mutations Alkylating agent is another form of chemotherapy drug, which can break cell division by binding DNA and changing it It uses electronegativity to do this When DNA is combined with alkylating agent, the factor will interrupt the ability of normal cell division, resulting in cell apoptosis Because this chemotherapeutic drug can act on all points of cell life cycle, it is called non cell cycle specific drug The drug can be used to treat different types of cancer, but because it damages DNA, it can also lead to certain types of leukemia Phytoalkaloids are chemotherapeutic drugs derived from plants Antimicrobial agents and enzyme inhibitors are two plant alkaloids Antimicrobials can prevent cell division by inhibiting microtubule function The function of enzyme inhibitors is to destroy the self repairing ability of DNA These drugs are cell cycle anticancer drugs, which only affect cells at a certain stage of the life cycle Another chemotherapy drug is an antimetabolic drug, which can prevent cells from metabolizing certain chemicals There are many types of antimetabolic drugs, each of which is dedicated to destroying the metabolism of specific substances For example, folate antagonists can damage cells' ability to absorb folate, a substance necessary for DNA synthesis Similarly, purine antagonists disrupt the ability of cells to absorb purine (the DNA building block) Without the right substance in the cell, it cannot divide.