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Traditional or standard chemotherapy works by disrupting the cell cycle. Each time a new cell forms it goes through a series of phases in order to become mature. Traditional chemotherapy drugs target the different phases of the cell cycle. By disrupting or stopping a particular phase, a cancerous cell can no longer mature and divide and ultimately dies.

Your immune system is designed to protect your body from threats such as infections, toxins and abnormal cell development (cancer). Your immune system usually prevents cancers from occurring, but sometimes it is not strong enough to combat abnormal cell growth. Immunotherapy drugs boost or improve how your own body’s immune system works to fight cancer.

Targeted therapies do not work in the same way as traditional chemotherapy even though they are technically considered to be a form of chemotherapy. As the name suggests, targeted therapies work by finding a specific target on cancerous cells that they can attack or block to stop the cells from making new cancer cells. If your cancer type is known to have a target, it will be tested at the time of your biopsy or surgery to see if the target is present. Assuming it is, a targeted therapy may form part of your treatment plan. As these drugs have a targeted action to the cancer cell, the damage to normal cells is usually reduced, but this does not mean that targeted therapies are free of side-effects.