ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the cellular origins and pathophysiology of common cancers and the pharmacological action of anti-cancer drugs. Most anti-cancer drugs inhibit the cell division so the people need to understand the process of cell division in order to understand how these drugs work. An ideal anti-cancer drug would kill all cancer cells while leaving normal, healthy cells untouched but targeting the cancerous cells is difficult because differences from other body cells are small. The prednisolone is not an anti-cancer drug but it recruits resting cancer cells from G0 phase into G1 phase of the active cell cycle where they are targeted by other drugs in the R-CHOP regime. Anti-cancer drugs target cells that are dividing rapidly, with the intention of either stopping cell division or damaging the cell to the extent that it either self-destructs or is destroyed by the body's own immune cells.
