Final answer:
Chemotherapeutic agents target the rapid division rate of cancer cells to slow down or halt their growth. The lack of specificity means they also affect healthy rapidly dividing cells, causing side effects. Research into targeted therapies aims to mitigate this issue.
Step-by-step explanation:
Chemotherapeutic agents attempt to exploit a key property of cancer cells, which is their rapid rate of division. Cancer cells proliferate quickly and continuously, unlike normal cells that divide at a slower pace. Chemotherapy drugs work by interfering with various stages of the cell division process, such as DNA replication or chromosome separation. As a result, these drugs can effectively slow down or halt the growth and spread of cancer. However, because chemotherapeutic agents are not highly specific, they may also harm healthy cells that naturally divide quickly, such as those in the skin, hair, gastrointestinal tract, and bone marrow, leading to numerous side effects.
Researchers continue to seek alternatives, such as targeted therapy and immunotherapy, which aim to more specifically target cancerous cells while sparing healthy ones. This ongoing research underpins the need to understand the common changes in cancer cells and how they can be exploited for treatment. Nevertheless, most current chemotherapies rely on combination therapy, where two or more drugs are administered together, to enhance the effectiveness of treatment and potentially prevent the cancer cells from developing resistance to a single drug.