Table 2.

Action of chemotherapy, molecular targeted therapy, and immunotherapy

Chemotherapy	Molecular targeted therapy	Immunotherapy
Acts on rapidly dividing normal and cancer cells	Act on specific molecular targets associated with the cancer	Uses own immune system to recognize and kill cancer cells
Developed because they kill the cells	Developed to interact with a specific target	Developed to engage the immune system to fight cancer
Cytotoxic - destroys cells	Cytostatic - blocks cell proliferation	Various actions - slow or stop cancer cell growth, stop the spread of cancer cells, boost the immune system's ability to respond to cancer cells