Does Chemotherapy Really Cure Breast Cancer?

Chemotherapy before or after surgery is the standard of care for patients with breast cancers. Dozens of studies suggest that chemotherapy reduces the risk of recurrence and improves the survival of women with breast cancer. However, one cannot deny that chemotherapy is also a toxic, debilitating treatment, and chemotherapeutic agents like the most widely-used agents anthracyclines and taxanes are highly effective at killing cells [1]. The former work by damaging cellular DNA, while the latter disrupt microtubule function, and they harm healthy cells as well as cancer cells. To some extent, chemotherapeutic agents are intrinsically carcinogenic; there is a possibility that normal cells can be transformed into cancer cells, and cancer cells can become more malignant.