Measuring Cytotoxicity On Cancer Cells - 1520 Words

Measuring Cytotoxicity on Cancer Cells by Inhibiting the Reduction of 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide to generate NADH and NADPH Abstract: Chemotherapy is a well-known treatment when it comes to treating cancer, however the drugs are often non-specific and can end up damaging perfectly healthy cells, leaving the patient in agony, or not achieve anything. In this study we looks into the area of personalised medicine where different drugs are used for different patients with the same cancer dependent upon the effects this drug will have. Two chemotherapeutic agents, named A and B, were used to prevent the cell proliferating and therefore stop the cancer progressing and surviving as the cells starve to death. A†¦show more content†¦Radiotherapy was the first method non-surgical method used to cure cancer around 100 years ago and was, up until recently, the most common way to do so (http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/68/21/8643.full.html). The basis is simple, an ionising beam is fired at the tumorous cells to alter those cells DNA. The mutations are fatal and the cells die, therefore curing the ca ncer, however many healthy cells around that tumour also get mutated and can also die in the process so there can be some severe side effects from radiotherapy. Chemotherapy was invented around 40 years later (same guy unfortunately to link) in 1935 but due to lack of progress it was dismissed until the 1960’s when there was proof that it actually could cure cancer and not just relieve certain symptoms but do nothing else. Whilst radiotherapy is still the most common treatment of cancers chemotherapy is now a treatment almost everyone will have heard of and is a growing field in an attempt to cure cancer with various drugs while minimising the side effects some of these drugs can have. However vary rarely are these treatments used as standalone treatments nowadays, combining the above techniques in different ways to ensure total removal of the cancerous cells. This method is called