Table 1. Cancer therapeutics targeting highly conserved unicellular processes.

Drug	Mechanism of action	Targeted cancer type	Reference/reviewed in
Pemetrexed	Purine and pyrimidine synthesis	Lung cancer	Hanna et al (2004)
Bortezomib	Proteasome	Myeloma and lymphoma	Piperdi et al (2011), Richardson et al (2003)
Vincristine, vinblastine, vinorelbine	Suppression or depolymerisation of microtubules, destruction of mitotic spindles	Broad spectrum	Jordan and Wilson (2004)
Paclitaxel	Microtubule-stabilisation, inducing mitotic arrest	Ovarian, breast, lung, gastroesophageal, endometrial, cervical, prostate, and head and neck cancers, sarcoma, lymphoma, and leukaemia	Weaver (2014)
Camptothecin	Targets DNA topoisomerase I	Broad spectrum	Liu et al (2000)