• Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment modality distinct from surgery and radiation therapy. Instead of physically removing parts or all of the tumor, chemotherapy employs anticancer drugs made from chemical formulations to interact with cancer cells, aiming to eradicate or control cancer growth. Different drugs act through various mechanisms: some damage the genetic material of cells, while others inhibit cell division. As chemotherapy drugs cannot distinguish between normal and cancerous cells, both types of cells are affected by chemotherapy. The toxicity of chemotherapy to normal cells can lead to treatment-related side effects. However, chemotherapy remains a standard treatment for many cancers. Most normal tissues can repair themselves and continue to grow after chemotherapy, so the side effects of chemotherapy are often not permanent.

• Targeted Therapy

Cancer cells often have different gene mutations than normal cells. Therefore, targeted drugs can act on genes or proteins unique to cancer cells, reducing the impact on normal cells. Targeted drugs have different mechanisms of action, such as inhibiting cancer cell growth and division, inducing cell death, preventing the formation of new blood vessels to nourish cancer cells, triggering the immune system to kill cancer cells, and delivering chemotherapy drugs to cancer cells to kill them. However, so far, only a few types of cancer are routinely treated with targeted drugs. Most patients receiving targeted therapy still require surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.

• Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is a relatively new cancer treatment method that uses drugs to activate the immune system to fight cancer cells, aiming to control cancer. Humans have two types of defense mechanisms that protect the body from invaders such as bacteria, viruses, or cancer cells. The first line of defense, such as physical barriers in the skin, mucous membranes, and the walls of the respiratory tract, and immune cells that produce nonspecific protective functions, acts against invaders regardless of their nature. The second line of defense generates specific immune responses to recognize or even remember invaders, resulting in a strengthened and accelerated response to future encounters. Immune cells circulate throughout the body, protecting it from foreign invaders or cancer attacks. One of the causes of cancer formation is the escape of cancer cells from recognition and clearance by the immune response. Therefore, immunotherapy can activate the immune system with drugs to combat cancer.