eli5: How does radiation both cause and cure cancer? I know it can be targeted, but I still don’t understand how it’s not causing cancer at it’s target? How does chemo work? And how does chemo and radiation work together?

Question

Sorry if the flair is wrong. Biology or chemistry?

In: Biology

Answer 1

So, it can’t be used to treat all sorts of cancer. But many forms of cancer are a result of cells with damaged or mutated DNA that causes them to reproduce and grow and act in a way they’re not supposed to. Ionizing radiation (radiation that has enough energy to knock out electrons from atoms) causes damage to cells and their DNA – this damage can be enough to outright kill the cells (how it works with treatment), or it might just cause damage that causes mutations and those mutations in turn can result in cells growing into cancerous growths.

Radiation therapy is aimed at hurting/killing the cancer cells themselves, but it also affects healthy cells in that immediate area, too. It absolutely can cause other tissue damage or other serious side effects.

“Chemotherapy” is any sort of chemical treatments meant to target cancer cells – could be creams, certain pills, implanted discs that dissolve and release medication or injections/IVs of medication. It’s usually used in combination with other treatments (surgery, radiation, etc.) to help suppress the growth of the cancer cells. But this too is often hazardous to other cells, because, like radiation therapy, there’s no way for it to tell the difference between normal healthy cells and dangerous cancer cells.