Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy, in its most general sense, is the treatment of disease by chemicals especially by killing micro-organisms or cancerous cells. In popular usage, it refers to antineoplastic drugs used to treat cancer or the combination of these drugs into a cytotoxic standardized treatment regimen.

What is Chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy literally refers to the treatment of certain diseases using specific chemicals that are destructive to malignant cells or to the causative agent of a disease such as a bacteria or virus. Therefore, the treatment can be broadly divided into two categories - cancer chemotherapy and antimicrobial chemotherapy.

How Chemotherapy Affects Daily Living

Chemotherapy Types

What is 'Chemo Brain'?

Does Scalp Cooling Prevent Hair Loss During Chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy Treatment Schemes

History of Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy Principles

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

Artificial intelligence improves prediction of cancer drug resistance

A comprehensive review recently published in Current Molecular Pharmacology (2026, Volume 19, Pages 85–96) examines the rapidly evolving landscape of computational tools for predicting tumour drug resistance.

26 Jun 2026

Engineered CAR T cells successfully target bladder cancer in mice

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed genetically engineered CAR T cells that specifically target and kill bladder cancer cells.

26 Jun 2026

Lipid nanoparticles enhance immune response against lung cancer

Researchers at the University of Arizona R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy have developed a new strategy that helps the immune system recognize and attack lung cancer tumors more effectively.

25 Jun 2026

Lactate and lactylation play multifaceted roles in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

A comprehensive review recently published in Current Molecular Pharmacology illuminates the pivotal, multifaceted roles of lactate and its downstream protein modification, lactylation, in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

25 Jun 2026

FDA approves palbociclib combination for advanced HR-positive HER2-positive breast cancer

Today, Alliance Foundation Trials, LLC (AFT) was informed that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved palbociclib in combination with trastuzumab, with or without pertuzumab, and endocrine therapy for adult patients with hormone receptor–positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–positive (HER2+) locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer following induction treatment.

24 Jun 2026

Review outlines key strategies to overcome antibody drug conjugate resistance

The first Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) was approved overa quarter-century ago, and today more than 20 have reached the clinic.

24 Jun 2026

Microbes trigger cell death to boost cancer immunotherapy effectiveness

Traditional cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy can induce immunogenic cell death (ICD), but their efficacy is often limited by drug resistance, severe off-target toxicity, and immune-related adverse events.

24 Jun 2026

Scientists unlock molecular structure of key protein linked to cancer, neurological diseases

After nearly four decades of research, Mayo Clinic scientists have revealed the molecular structures of protein kinase C beta (PKCβ), a key protein linked to cancer and neurological diseases.

23 Jun 2026

Artificial intelligence helps breast cancer patients avoid unnecessary chemotherapy

Research led by RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences and University College Dublin (UCD) has identified immune markers that could help doctors more accurately determine which breast cancer patients are unlikely to benefit from chemotherapy, potentially sparing some patients from unnecessary treatment.

23 Jun 2026

Novel IL1RAP therapy advances toward pancreatic cancer clinical trial

Blocking IL1RAP, a receptor that sits at a key control point in inflammatory signaling, can disrupt the tumor-driven inflammatory network that helps pancreatic cancer resist treatment, according to new research.

22 Jun 2026

UCLA researcher receives grant for advanced osteosarcoma immunotherapy

Physician-scientist Theodore Scott Nowicki, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of pediatrics hematology/oncology and microbiology, immunology, & molecular genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, has been awarded the Hero Grant from MIB Agents, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving outcomes for children and young adults with osteosarcoma.

22 Jun 2026

Tiny algae-based robots could improve bladder cancer treatment

Tiny algae-based robots guided by magnets could improve bladder cancer treatment by boosting delivery of chemotherapy drugs into tumours, researchers say.

22 Jun 2026

New drug could double survival time in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer

A new medication could double survival time in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, according to Phase III clinical trial results presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2026 annual meeting and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

22 Jun 2026

Gene deletion exposes hidden colon cancer cells to immunotherapy attack

A study from the University of Calgary shows that removing a single gene makes colon cancer cells a target for immunotherapy - a fundamental breakthrough.

18 Jun 2026

New spatial map reveals treatment vulnerabilities in bladder cancer

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a spatial map of muscle-invasive bladder cancer, revealing how tumor cell states, immune environments and therapeutic vulnerabilities are organized within tumors.

18 Jun 2026

New biomarker predicts gastric cancer outcomes from CT scans

Researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo, Brazil, have identified a new biomarker that may help determine the prognosis for patients with gastric cancer, the fifth most common type of cancer worldwide.

16 Jun 2026

New blueberry-sized ingestible sensor tracks internal body temperature

In a hospital or at home, temperatures are usually taken using an oral or forehead thermometer, but these do not always accurately reflect the core body temperature.

15 Jun 2026

Novel metal-free prodrug suppresses cancer spread in preclinical models

A carefully designed metal-free carbon monoxide prodrug may help prevent some of the deadliest forms of cancer from spreading, according to researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

12 Jun 2026

New combination therapy improves outcomes in high-risk leukemia

A research team from the Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), has developed a novel combination therapy that significantly improves treatment outcomes and survival in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) with FLT3 gene mutations.

11 Jun 2026

FDA accepts immunotherapy drug for review in colon cancer treatment

The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (Alliance) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted for review Genentech's supplemental Biologic License Application for their immunotherapy drug atezolizumab (Tecentriq®) for the treatment of patients with stage III colon cancer with deficient deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) mismatch repair (dMMR).

11 Jun 2026