Cells of the body in some events uncontrollably grow and spread to other body parts, this condition is cancer. This event can start at any part of the body. Targeted therapies and chemotherapies are types of cancer treatments.

The differentiating factor between these two effective cancer treatments is that chemotherapy kills normal, healthy cells when it is destroying the cancer cells. Targeted therapy, on the other hand, influences cancerous cells only; normal cells can sustain its effect.

Chemotherapy

• This kind of cancer treatment makes use of drugs to destroy cancerous cells
• The process aims at cells at various stages of the life cycle of cells
• Usually, these cells are fast-growing, hence these drugs can aid in stopping the life cycle of cancerous cells
• A limitation of chemotherapy is that the medication fails to differentiate between cancerous and healthy cells, as a result, normal cells get damaged too
• While normal cells tend to recover from its effects, cancerous cells get mutated and fail to recover

Targeted Therapy

• This therapy aims at particular cancerous cells with no harm to the normal cells
• Several types of cancer cells possess varying gene modification and enzymes or proteins signaling cancerous cells to replicate and grow
• These drugs aim at enzymes or proteins blocking messages, thus resulting in the cancerous cells stopping the growth of or destructs them
• It changes the inner mechanism of the cells centring on the cancerous cells which makes it different from the healthier cells
• Since it does not affect healthy cells, its side effects vary from that of other treatments

Key Difference between Chemotherapy and Targeted Therapy

The table below depicts the difference between Chemotherapy and Targeted Therapy.

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