The Effect On Dividing Cancer Cells
In case of cancer cells, the cells keep on splitting up until there is a bulk of cells. The abnormal division of cancer cells turns into becoming a lump which is known as a tumor. As cancer cells tend to divide much faster than most of the normal cells, chemotherapy drugs are more likely to kill these cancer cells. Some drugs kill cancer cells by destroying the control centers of individual cancer cells thus keeping them from further division. While other chemotherapy drugs might interfere with the chemical mechanisms involving the cell division.
Chemotherapy destroys cancer cells as they divide. Nucleus is the control center in each living cell which is present in the center of the cell containing the materials to aid the division of cells. The genetic material i.e., chromosomes in the nucleus contains genes which divide a cell into two to form new cells by copying the genes. The chemotherapy drugs destroy these genes inside the nucleus of cancer cells. Some chemotherapy drugs might damage cells at the stage of division while the other drugs might destroy the cells during the copying of genes before the division. [2]