National Cell and Tissue Culture Centre, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland.
Cytotechnology. 1998 Sep;27(1-3):113-36. doi: 10.1023/A:1008052401952.
Chemotherapy can cure a number of human cancers but resistance (either intrinsic or acquired) remains a significant problem in many patients and in many types of solid tumour. Combination chemotherapy (using drugs with different cellular targets/mechanisms) was introduced in order to kill cells which had developed resistance to a specific drug, and to allow delivery of a greater total dose of anti-cancer chemicals by combining drugs with different side-effects (Pratt et al., 1994). Nearly all anti-cancer drugs kill tumour cells by activating an endogenous bio-chemical pathway for cell suicide, known as programmed cell death or apoptosis.
化疗可以治愈许多人类癌症，但在许多患者和许多类型的实体肿瘤中，耐药性（内在或获得性）仍然是一个重大问题。联合化疗（使用具有不同细胞靶点/机制的药物）的引入是为了杀死对特定药物产生耐药性的细胞，并通过结合具有不同副作用的药物来输送更大剂量的抗癌化学物质（Pratt 等人，1994 年）。几乎所有的抗癌药物都是通过激活一种称为程序性细胞死亡或细胞凋亡的内源性细胞自杀生物化学途径来杀死肿瘤细胞的。
