When Was Chemotherapy Invented?
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs or chemicals to treat cancerous cells in the human body. The idea of chemotherapy started with the use of chemical warfare in World War II. Chemotherapy began as the research of a single chemical, and today the amount of drugs used in chemotherapy continues to grow.
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Mustard Gas
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Nitrogen mustard was a chemical agent used during World War II. Nitrogen mustard, which was discovered in the early 20th century, was used to attack enemy soldiers. The results of mustard gas attacks were severe chemical burns.
Blood Cells
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The United States Department of Defense discovered that people that were exposed to mustard gas had low white blood cell levels. This discovery led to the belief that mustard gas, given through the blood instead of through the air, might help cure cancer.
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The Doctors
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The U.S. Department of Defense assigned Alfred Gilman and Louis S. Goodman to test the benefits of mustard gas on cancer. In the mid-1940s, the duo experimented on patients with advanced lymphomas. Gilman and Goodman found this treatment to give patients temporary improvement.
Antifolates
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Antifolates were the second step in using drugs to treat cancer. In the late 1940s, Sidney Faber and Harriett Kilte studied the use of folic acid to help treat leukemia. The results of their work were aminoprotein and amethopterin. These antifolates helped slow cancer cell growth in children.
Tumor Treatments
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The methotrexate treatment was discovered by Roy Hertz and Min Chui Li in 1956. This treatment is considered the first tumor to be cured by chemotherapy. The treatment cures germ cell malignancy.
First Choice
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According to the American Cancer Society, chemotherapy is often the first choice to fight cancer. Currently, there are more than 100 different drugs used in chemotherapy.
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