Chemotherapy

What is chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy is one of the primary treatments used to manage a very wide variety of cancers - leukemia, lymphoma, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, digestive system cancer, and others. The general principles of all the drug classes used in chemotherapy are as follows: the aim is to break the DNA of cancer cells and/or block the process of cell division responsible for tumor proliferation. Depending on the molecules used, the products are administered either intravenously or orally. 
Doctors at Institut Curie can use chemotherapy prior to surgery to, in particular, reduce the size of the tumor to be removed. This is called neoadjuvant treatment. The medical team may also prescribe chemotherapy following a tumor removal in order to eliminate any remaining cancer cells (adjuvant treatment). Chemotherapy, which acts non-specifically on all the body's cells, is also used in cases of metastatic cancer, i.e. when cancer cells have spread elsewhere in the body. 
Chemotherapy can also be prescribed as an additional treatment to complement other therapeutic approaches. For example, some chemotherapies make cancer cells more sensitive to radiotherapy or immunotherapy.

Possible side effects of chemotherapy

Because of possible side effects, Institut Curie teams aim to strike a balance between effective treatment and consequences that are as bearable as possible for patients. 
There are several classes of chemotherapy drugs with specific side effects. Some treatments can lead to hair loss; others to varying degrees of nausea; others still to infectious complications. This is why medical teams anticipate these side effects and adapt patient management to each particular patient.

Research in chemotherapy 

Research at Institut Curie in the field of chemotherapy focuses in particular on antibody-drug conjugates or ADCs. These are complex molecules designed to distinguish healthy tissues from cancerous ones. They add to the classic pharmacopoeia of non-specific chemotherapy treatments. By attaching itself to tumor cells, the antibody present in the ADC delivers a dose of chemotherapy directly into the tumor to break the DNA of cancer cells. The action of the drugs is enhanced, generating fewer side effects in the body. Other avenues of research are being explored in the combination of treatments with chemotherapy.