The Basis of Chemotherapy

Abstract

CHEMOTHERAPY was a term used by Ehrlich to denote the treatment with substances of known chemical composition of an infected host, in such a way as to destroy the invading organisms or to neuralize the toxic action of their products. A chemotherapeutic agent must therefore be a substance which has no action against the host, but specifically attacks the infecting organism and either kills it or renders it susceptible to the defence mechanisms of the host. Until recently, new chemotherapeutic agents have been discovered by accident and then subjected to chemical modification in an attempt to improve their effectiveness. The discovery of such drugs has been followed, often after an interval of many years, by elucidation of the nature of their action. There must, however, come a time when it will be possible to design drugs to inhibit processes peculiar to parasitic organisms and so produce chemotherapeutic agents on a rational basis.

The Basis of Chemotherapy

By Dr. Thomas S. Work Dr. Elizabeth Work. Pp. xix+436. (Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, Ltd., 1948.) 26s. net.