cytotoxic drug
1
4.9
- noun
- /ˌsaɪtəʊˈtɒksɪk drʌg/
- Specialized
:
fármaco citotóxico
- During chemotherapy, patients often receive cytotoxic drugs to attack cancer cells.
Examples
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This is followed by the injection of the cytotoxic drug, which is modified to bind specifically to the tag of the targeting affibody and is designed to be otherwise cleared rapidly without any extensive uptake in nontumor organs.
Academic text (2017) -
The doctor prescribed a cytotoxic drug to help reduce the size of the tumor.
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Other causes include arrhythmias, cytotoxic drugs, and thyroid disease.
Academic text (2011) -
Should a learning-disabled child with a relapse of leukemia be forced to take cytotoxic drugs if the chance of cure is poor?
Academic text (2014) -
Killing cancer cells in a patient with cytotoxic drugs is hazardous because a wide range of chemotherapeutic agents do not discriminate in their toxicity between normal cells and cancer cells (Lipp 1999).
Academic text (1999) -
Another example is Hepatitis B Virus core (HBc) particles, which are hollow particles that can be assembled and disassembled in a controlled manner and loaded with, for example, cytotoxic drugs.
Academic text (2017) -
Research shows that specific cytotoxic drugs are effective in treating aggressive forms of cancer.
Synonyms
11
3.2
A medicine that treats cancer by killing or stopping cancer cells
A drug that stops or kills cancer cells, usually given in chemotherapy
A drug that stops or slows the growth of cancer
A drug used to treat cancer by killing cancer cells
Antonyms
How Toxic
- Specialized
1
4.9
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is fully compositional: 'cytotoxic' means harmful to cells and 'drug' means a medicinal chemical, so together they denote a drug that is toxic to cells. This adjective + noun pattern is predictable and follows standard morphological composition (and similar formations exist in other languages), making the meaning transparent to a learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
Cytotoxic drug comes from two parts: cyto- meaning 'cell' and toxic meaning 'poison', so it literally means 'cell poison'. That's why the term describes a medicine that kills cells (used to attack cancer cells) and can also hurt healthy cells.