why do chemotheraphy and radiation treatments kill cancer cells more effectively than they kill normal cells?

June 16th, 2008 | Tags: , ,
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cancer treatments
echo asked:


in the body?

  1. Kristen
    June 17th, 2008 at 02:11
    Reply | Quote | #1

    Radiation and chemotherapy kill them both, that is why it is so important that anyone who has had chemo or radiation stay away from people that have been sick or don’t go around a big population of people because they don’t have an immune system, the cells that would normally fight off bacteria have been killed off.

  2. Temari-Sensei
    June 18th, 2008 at 11:47
    Reply | Quote | #2

    Actually, chemotheripy kills regular cells just as much as cancer cells. The reason it seems like it kills cancer cells more is because the doctors ususally concentrait the beam of radiation onto a specific spot to minimize healthy cell exposure. That’s why so many people are trying to come up with a different cure for cancer, because it has such a horrible effect on the body…

  3. the crusader
    June 18th, 2008 at 21:07
    Reply | Quote | #3

    The one who posted first is correct. Both chemo and radiation kill all cells, not just cancer cells. That’s why people get so sick from chemo and radiation therapy. Their bodies are basically being poisoned in order to try and get rid of the cancerous cells.

  4. notalonewithcancer
    June 20th, 2008 at 01:26
    Reply | Quote | #4

    chemo kills off both cancer cells and healthy cells equally. The good thing is that our good cells grow back faster than the cancer cells ;-)

  5. Verry
    June 20th, 2008 at 07:37
    Reply | Quote | #5

    Because cancer cells divide so rapidly it makes them more vulnerable to chemotherapy and radiation.

    From

    In the most common forms of radiation therapy, most of the radiation effect is through free radicals. Because cells have mechanisms for repairing DNA damage, breaking the DNA on both strands proves to be the most significant technique in modifying cell characteristics. Because cancer cells generally are undifferentiated and stem cell-like, they reproduce more, and have a diminished ability to repair sub-lethal damage compared to most healthy differentiated cells. The DNA damage is inherited through cell division, accumulating damage to the cancer cells, causing them to die or reproduce more slowly.

    From

    Broadly, most chemotherapeutic drugs work by impairing mitosis (cell division), effectively targeting fast-dividing cells.

  6. Wael H
    June 21st, 2008 at 05:52
    Reply | Quote | #6

    They both get killed. Cancer cells more however because they are rapidly dividing. Cells that divide rapidly are targetted. That is why your hair will fall out.

  7. Diane T
    June 23rd, 2008 at 23:59
    Reply | Quote | #7

    They do kill both good and bad. The one thing about chemo the cells regenerate. With radiation the area is pretty much dead.

  8. Joseph F
    June 25th, 2008 at 23:10
    Reply | Quote | #8

    Radiation is physically targeted at the cancer cells. Chemotherapy drugs are usually basically poisons that are metabolized faster by cancer cells than by “normal” cells, thus they kill the cancer before they kill the patient. You have to remember that what characterizes cancer cells is that they have far higher metabolic growth rates than normal cells.

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