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Chronology of Anticancer Drugs and Their Development

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  • First Online:
Handbook of Oncobiology: From Basic to Clinical Sciences

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Abstract

Chemotherapeutic drugs, or anticancer, are the chemical components which are used to treat cancer. The term anticancer drugs evolved in the era of the early 90 s in order to control the disease at the time of World War. Nitrogen mustard was used as a poison gas during WWII and was the first chemical substance used as a chemotherapeutics. As per recent statistics, lung, breast, colorectal, stomach, prostate, and liver are some of the deadliest cancers which have the highest mortality rate in the population. Several measures have to be taken in order to avoid these cancers. It begins like a solid tumor, which later in turn causes the death of a person. The development of anticancer medication has traditionally aimed on cytostatic or cytotoxic chemicals that cause tumor recurrence. These ideologies were enhanced to incorporate desired preselection for the creation of molecularly focused therapeutic agents of anticancer drug discovery. It plays a vital role in arresting tumor cell growth. Even though they control the progress of cancer cells, they also affect normal cell division. Many types of anticancer medicines have been measured as DNA-damaging agents for some time. These types of drugs are classified into antimetabolites, topoisomerase inhibitors, and antitumor antibiotics, alkylating agents, hormone antagonists, and herbal remedies. Before the discovery of a chemotherapeutic drug, one should know the chemical composition, combination, and toxicity measures of the medicine. With the implementation of new chemotherapy treatments (such as hormones, molecular targeting agents, and biological agents), the progression of useful methods is now required mostly for preclinical and clinical trials but also for the advancement of formulations containing these substances and represents the next challenge in anticancer drug analysis.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, School of Science, Garden City University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    Keerthana Raja

  2. Human Cytogenetics and Genomics Laboratory, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Kelambakkam, Tamil Nadu, India

    Ramakrishnan Veerabathiran

Authors
  1. Keerthana Raja
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  2. Ramakrishnan Veerabathiran
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Biotechnology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Chandigarh, India

    R. C. Sobti

  2. NCR Biotech Science Cluster, Translational Health Sci & Tech Inst, Faridabad, Haryana, India

    Nirmal K. Ganguly

  3. Cancer Research Institute, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Rama Himalayan University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

    Rakesh Kumar

Section Editor information

  1. Pharmacology Division, University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UGC Centre of Advanced Study, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India

    Anil Kumar

  2. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shoolini University, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Deepak Kumar

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Raja, K., Veerabathiran, R. (2024). Chronology of Anticancer Drugs and Their Development. In: Sobti, R.C., Ganguly, N.K., Kumar, R. (eds) Handbook of Oncobiology: From Basic to Clinical Sciences. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6263-1_51

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