CHEMOTHERAPY

CHEMOTHERAPY is the treatment of diseases with specific chemical agents. The earliest efforts to use chemotherapy were directed at infectious diseases. Paul Ehrlich, known as the Father of Chemotherapy, reported the clinical efficacy of Salvarsan in 1910, the first agent to be shown effective against syphilis. In 1936, sulfonamides were introduced for the treatment of diseases, such as pneumonia, caused by bacteria. And in 1941, a team of scientists in Oxford, England, isolated the active component of the mold Penicillium notatum, previously shown by Alexander Fleming to inhibit growth of bacteria in culture media. Thereafter, penicillin was manufactured on a large scale in the United States and is still widely used in clinical practice. Subsequent research has led to significant discoveries such as the antibiotics streptomycin, cephalosporins, tetracyclines, and erythromycin, and the antimalarial compounds chloroquine and chloroguanide.

As control of infectious diseases improved, scientists turned their attention to malignant diseases. They sought compounds that would interfere with the metabolism of tumor cells and destroy them. The compounds they discovered work in various ways. Some, such as methotrexate, provide tumors with fraudulent substrates, while others, such as nitrogen mustards, alter tumor DNA to disrupt tumor metabolism and so destroy the malignant cells. Unfortunately, these latter compounds also affect normal tissues, especially those containing rapidly dividing cells, and cause anemia, stomatitis, diarrhea, and alopecia. By careful selection and administration of these chemotherapeutic agents, safer techniques are being developed to prevent the fatal effects of malignant tumors.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hardman, Joel G., and Lee E. Limbird, eds. Goodman and Gilman's: The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Higby, Gregory J., and Elaine C. Stroud, eds. The Inside Story of Medicines: A Symposium. Madison, Wisc.: American Institute of the History of Pharmacy, 1997.

Markle, Gerald E., and James C. Petersen, eds. Politics, Science, and Cancer: The Laetrile Phenomenon. Boulder, Colo.: West-view Press, 1980.

Perry, Michael C., ed. The Chemotherapy Source Book. 2d ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1996.

Peter H.Wright/c. p.

See alsoCancer ; DNA ; Epidemics and Public Health ; Malaria ; Medical Research ; Pharmacy ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases .