A woman undergoing chemotherapy treatment for uterine cancer asks the nurse how chemotherapeutic medications help treat her cancer. Which of the following statements by the nurse is accurate?

Explanation

• Most chemotherapy drugs attack rapidly dividing cells such as cancer cells, bone marrow cells, the gastrointestinal tract and hair follicles.

• Cancer cells in the body are known to rapidly divide as they behave very differently from normal cells. They are mutated stem cells which underwent structural changes.

• Some newer antineoplastic drugs act more specifically on cancer cells by attacking proteins that are abnormally expressed in cancer cells.

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