Chemotherapy cytotoxicity

Chemotherapy cytotoxicity refers to the toxic effects of chemotherapy drugs (cytotoxic agents) that damage or kill cells—including both malignant and normal cells. These drugs act by interfering with core cellular processes such as DNA synthesis, mitosis, or nucleotide metabolism. They induce cell death mainly by causing DNA damage or arresting the cell cycle, but lack selectivity for cancer cells, resulting in adverse effects on healthy tissues with high proliferation rates such as bone marrow, gastrointestinal lining, and hair follicles[1][2][3][4][5]. The concept encompasses not only the intended therapeutic destruction of tumor cells but also dose-limiting toxicity and side effects in normal tissues, which remain a major challenge in cancer therapy[1][3][5]. Cytotoxicity is thus a property of chemotherapy—not a specific druggable molecular target or receptor.

Other names

cytotoxic chemotherapy (refers to drugs, not a target)chemotherapy-induced cytotoxicity (refers to the toxic effect, not a receptor)

Disruption of DNA synthesis or integrity (alkylation, cross-linking, strand breaks, topoisomerase inhibition) Inhibition of mitosis (antimicrotubule agents cause cell cycle arrest) Induction of cell death pathways: apoptosis, mitotic catastrophe, necrosis Immunogenic cell death (some agents also activate the immune response)