Cytostatics are toxins that suppress the growth and division of cells. In chemotherapy, physicians used this property of cytostatic drugs.
What are cytostatic drugs?
Cytostatics are toxins that suppress the growth and division of cells. In chemotherapy, physicians used this property of cytostatics. Cytostatics (singular: cytostatic) are substances that stop or inhibit cell growth. The effect takes place either at the stage of cell division (mitosis) or during the growth phase between the divisions. Generally speaking, therefore, they are cell poisons. The term “cytostatic” is predominantly used where the destruction of higher cells is involved. This refers to organisms that have large cells with nuclei and chromosomes. However, some cytostatic agents act on all cell types, including lower life forms such as bacteria. Special agents that kill microorganisms are commonly called antibiotics, although they are also cytostatics in the literal sense. (In other words, cytostatics could also be called antibiotics.) Cytostatics are generally known as drugs used in chemotherapy for malignant tumors (malignant tumors). However, cytostatics are also suitable for the treatment of other diseases.
Application, effect, and use
Cytostatic drugs target different sites at the cellular level. Some prevent the regular assembly of the cyto-skeleton. These are fine protein filaments that contribute to mechanical stabilization inside the cell. Some cytostatic agents prevent the correct duplication of the hereditary molecule, DNA. Others interfere with the distribution of chromosomes to daughter cells during cell division. Some cytostatic drugs suppress protein metabolism in cells, making cell division impossible for lack of mass. Cytostatic drugs primarily affect those tissue types in which rapid cell growth with high division rates takes place. Because this is the case in tumors, cytostatic drugs specifically – but unfortunately not exclusively – affect cancer cells. The preferred use of cytostatic drugs in chemotherapy is following surgery. Despite the removal of the visible tumor, minute daughter tumors (metastases) may remain in the body. In the surgical area, individual cells may even have sloughed off and form a new growth. In order to eliminate these remnants completely, cytostatics are used. Another indication of cytostatics are autoimmune diseases. These are misreactions of the immune system, which for unknown reasons attacks the body’s own substance. The work of our immune system is associated with a high production rate of leukocytes (white blood cells). For this reason, cytostatic drugs also act as immunosuppressants, shutting down an excessive body defense. However, this is a relatively underutilized potential of cytostatic drugs.
Herbal, natural, and pharmaceutical cytostatics.
Cytostatic drugs are largely organic, and rarely inorganic, substances. Most of these compounds are produced synthetically. Sometimes they are nature-identical agents with plant models. The spectrum of cytostatic drugs is so extensive that a practical classification is difficult even for experts. A classification according to molecular mechanisms of action has become increasingly accepted, but this sometimes ignores the affiliations to the chemical substance classes. The phytomedical aspects of cytostatics in chemotherapy are noteworthy. Thus, experiments were made with the poison of autumn crocus in cancer treatment. Colchicine (Colchicum: “autumn crocus“) did not prove successful here, but the cell division blocker is prescribed for gout. Other plant-based active ingredients actually work against tumors, such as topotecan from the Chinese fortune tree (Camptotheca) or paclitaxel from yew (Taxus). Purely inorganic cytostatic drugs, on the other hand, include the platinum compound cisplatin. The substance attaches to DNA and thus stops cell division. Some cytostatics were originally developed as drugs against infections and were intended to inhibit the growth of bacteria. Then cancer-related chemotherapy turned out to be the real indication for these cytostatic drugs.
Risks and side effects
Cytostatic drugs have serious side effects due to their aggressive properties. The organs most affected are those in which there is a high level of cell division activity.The constantly renewing intestinal mucosa is therefore affected by the effect of the cytostatic drugs. The result is the sometimes enormous nausea during chemotherapy. A high mitosis rate is also seen in the bone marrow. Therefore, the formation of erythrocytes is impaired as well as the production of white blood cells. Anemia (anemia) and weakened immune defenses are the result. Also serious are the mutagenic (genetic modification) properties of cytostatic drugs. Even the development of cancer can thus be a side effect of acutely life-saving chemotherapy. Less serious is the side effect of hair loss. Hair is dead cells stacked on top of each other. As a result, hair growth requires constant cell divisions. That is why the effect of cytostatic drugs unfolds here as well.
