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.

Chemotherapy Treatment Schemes

What is 'Chemo Brain'?

Does Scalp Cooling Prevent Hair Loss During Chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy Principles

Chemotherapy Types

History of Chemotherapy

How Chemotherapy Affects Daily Living

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

Study compares two antibiotics in treating severe hemorrhagic bacterial pneumonia

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (S. maltophilia) is a multidrug-resistant bacterium that can cause severe and life-threatening hemorrhagic pneumonia in individuals with weakened immune systems.

11 May 2026

New study reveals how slow-growing cells drive breast cancer relapse

A new study by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research has uncovered a hidden mechanism explaining why breast cancer can return many years after successful treatment.

11 May 2026

Study challenges assumptions about testosterone’s role in brain cancer

Scientists have long suspected that androgens, male sex hormones like testosterone, may help tumors grow because the hormones can suppress immune responses to some cancers.

8 May 2026

New nanoparticles disable drug resistance to achieve complete tumor elimination

Cancer cells frequently develop the ability to expel anticancer drugs before they can work -- a phenomenon called multidrug resistance (MDR) -- which is one of the leading reasons why chemotherapy fails in patients.

8 May 2026

Diverse leukemia stem cells may drive AML relapse after therapy

Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the HI-STEM* Stem Cell Institute have deciphered a key mechanism that contributes to treatment failure in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

7 May 2026

Scientists identify powerful human antibodies capable of neutralizing measles virus

Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) are the first in the world to characterize human antibodies capable of neutralizing measles virus.

7 May 2026

Many metastatic lung cancer patients still receive no treatment options

About half of people diagnosed with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer never receive treatment, despite advances in options over recent decades that have created meaningful improvements in lifespan and quality of life for many patients.

7 May 2026

A new combined therapy to boost the immune system against cancer

Cancer immunotherapy is built on a simple but powerful idea: the immune system can recognize and destroy cancer cells if it is properly activated. In many patients, however, this response is too weak or too slow to be effective.

7 May 2026

Targeted RAS inhibitor shows promise against pancreatic cancer mutations

The targeted RAS inhibitor therapy daraxonrasib demonstrated the potential to improve patient outcomes over current standard treatments for patients with RAS-mutant pancreatic cancer, according to results of a Phase 1/2 trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

7 May 2026

First European trial tests CAR T therapy in amyloidosis patients

Three patients with light chain amyloidosis have been treated with CAR T cell therapy in the first European clinical trial testing the safety and efficacy of this immunotherapy in this patient group, led by UCL and UCLH researchers.

6 May 2026

Using Apple Watch and AI to protect children undergoing cancer treatment from infections

A new trial will test whether a tool that harnesses Apple Watch health data and artificial intelligence can help protect children undergoing cancer treatment from infections.

6 May 2026

YAP1 expression drives chemotherapy resistance in small cell lung cancer

Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that some cancer cells express the YAP1 protein only after treatment with chemotherapy, allowing them to survive by becoming more invasive and leading to treatment resistance with eventual relapse in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

5 May 2026

Phase 2 human clinical trial paves way for effective hookworm vaccine

A phase 2 human clinical trial of an antigen for a parasitic infection caused by hookworms has been shown to be effective in limiting the intensity of infection, paving the way for the development of a vaccine.

5 May 2026

Hand-held wireless probe helps surgeons identify breast cancer tumors

Breast cancer impacts over 2 million women around the world each year. Following radiotherapy or chemotherapy, breast-conserving surgery is the first line of intervention for early-stage breast cancer.

5 May 2026

ASPIRE trial explores survival benefits of adding chemotherapy to standard prostate cancer treatment

The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology is now enrolling patients in the ASPIRE trial (A032302)-a large-scale, phase III clinical study investigating whether adding chemotherapy to current standard treatments extends survival for men with advanced prostate cancer.

4 May 2026

Gentler treatment improves survival in children with relapsed leukemia

A gentler treatment for children whose leukemia has come back could boost survival and quality of life, a study led by a UCL academic has found.

30 Apr 2026

Daily self-moxibustion during chemotherapy found to be feasible and acceptable

Chemotherapy-induced pancytopenia remains a serious challenge in cancer care because falling blood counts can lead to treatment delays and dose reductions, with associated impact on survival, as well as potential infections, fatigue, and lower quality of life.

30 Apr 2026