Editing Chemotherapy (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of cancer chemotherapy}}
[[File:Sidney Farber nci-vol-1926-300.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Sidney Farber]] did pioneering work in chemotherapy.]]
[[File:Jane_Cooke_Wright.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Jane C. Wright]] pioneered the use of the drug methotrexate to treat breast cancer and skin cancer]]
The first use of [[small-molecule drug]]s to treat cancer was in the early 20th century, although the specific chemicals first used were not originally intended for that purpose. [[Mustard gas]] was used as a [[chemical warfare]] agent during [[World War I]] and was discovered to be a potent suppressor of [[hematopoiesis]] (blood production).<ref>{{cite journal |author=Krumbhaar EB |title=Role of the blood and the bone marrow in certain forms of gas poisoning |journal=JAMA |volume=72 |pages=39–41 |year=1919 |doi=10.1001/jama.1919.26110010018009f |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1423423 }}</ref> A similar family of compounds known as [[nitrogen mustards]] were studied further during [[World War II]] at the [[Yale School of Medicine]].<ref name="Fenn">{{cite journal | vauthors = Fenn JE, Udelsman R | title = First use of intravenous chemotherapy cancer treatment: rectifying the record | journal = Journal of the American College of Surgeons | volume = 212 | issue = 3 | pages = 413–7 | date = March 2011 | pmid = 21247779 | doi = 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2010.10.018 }}</ref> It was reasoned that an agent that damaged the rapidly growing white blood cells might have a similar effect on cancer.<ref name="Fenn" /> Therefore, in December 1942, several people with advanced [[lymphomas]] (cancers of the lymphatic system and lymph nodes) were given the drug by vein, rather than by breathing the irritating gas.<ref name="Fenn" /> Their improvement, although temporary, was remarkable.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Chabner BA, Roberts TG | title = Timeline: Chemotherapy and the war on cancer | journal = Nature Reviews. Cancer | volume = 5 | issue = 1 | pages = 65–72 | date = January 2005 | pmid = 15630416 | doi = 10.1038/nrc1529 | s2cid = 205467419 }}</ref> Concurrently, during a military operation in World War II, following a German [[Air raid on Bari|air raid]] on the Italian harbour of [[Bari]], several hundred people were accidentally exposed to mustard gas, which had been transported there by the [[Allies of World War II|Allied forces]] to prepare for possible retaliation in the event of German use of chemical warfare. The survivors were later found to have very low white blood cell counts.<ref>{{cite book | name-list-style = vanc |last = Faguet|first = Guy B.|title = The War on Cancer| url = https://archive.org/details/waroncanceranato00fagu | url-access = limited |publisher = Springer|year = 2005|page = [https://archive.org/details/waroncanceranato00fagu/page/n75 71]|isbn = 978-1-4020-3618-7}}</ref> After WWII was over and the reports declassified, the experiences converged and led researchers to look for other substances that might have similar effects against cancer. The first chemotherapy drug to be developed from this line of research was [[mustine]]. Since then, many other drugs have been developed to treat cancer, and drug development has exploded into a multibillion-dollar industry, although the principles and limitations of chemotherapy discovered by the early researchers still apply.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Joensuu H | title = Systemic chemotherapy for cancer: from weapon to treatment | journal = The Lancet. Oncology | volume = 9 | issue = 3 | pages = 304 | date = March 2008 | pmid = 18308256 | doi = 10.1016/S1470-2045(08)70075-5 }}</ref>

=== The term ''chemotherapy'' ===
The word ''chemotherapy'' without a modifier usually refers to cancer treatment, but its historical meaning was broader. The term was coined in the early 1900s by [[Paul Ehrlich]] as meaning any use of chemicals to treat any disease (''[[wikt:chemo-|chemo]]-'' + ''[[wikt:-therapy|-therapy]]''), such as the use of [[antibiotic]]s (''antibacterial chemotherapy'').<ref name="DeVita">{{cite journal | vauthors = DeVita VT, Chu E | title = A history of cancer chemotherapy | journal = Cancer Research | volume = 68 | issue = 21 | pages = 8643–53 | date = November 2008 | pmid = 18974103 | doi = 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-07-6611 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Ehrlich was not optimistic that effective chemotherapy drugs would be found for the treatment of cancer.<ref name="DeVita" /> The first modern chemotherapeutic agent was [[arsphenamine]], an arsenic compound discovered in 1907 and used to treat [[syphilis]].<ref name="pmid19868743">{{cite journal | vauthors = Nichols HJ, Walker JE | journal = The Journal of Experimental Medicine | volume = 37 | issue = 4 | pages = 525–42 | date = March 1923 | pmid = 19868743 | pmc = 2128372 | doi = 10.1084/jem.37.4.525 | title = Experimental Observations on the Prophylaxis and Treatment of Syphilis }}</ref> This was later followed by [[Sulfonamide (medicine)|sulfonamides]] (sulfa drugs) and [[penicillin]]. In today's [[usage]], the [[word sense|sense]] "any treatment of disease with drugs" is often expressed with the word ''[[pharmacotherapy]]''.