TABLE 1.

Main classes of cytotoxic antitumoral drugs according to their main mechanism of antiproliferative action.

Class	Mechanism of action	Cancer type	Drugs
Alkylating agents	DNA damage by producing inter and intrastrand crosslinks	Leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, multiple myeloma, sarcoma, breast, lung, ovarian cancers	Cyclophosphamide
			Melphalan
			Temozolomide
			Platinum drugs
Mitotic inhibitors	Alter mitosis due to alterations in the mitotic spindle formation or function	Breast, ovarian, lung cancers, myeloma, leukemia, lymphoma	Microtubule stabilizers: taxanes
			Microtubule destabilizers: vinca alkaloids
Antimetabolites	Interfere with the synthesis of DNA or its components	Leukemia, breast, ovarian, intestinal cancers	5-fluorouracil
			6-mercaptopurine
			Cytarabine
			Gemcitabine
			Methotrexate
Anti-tumor antibiotics	Inhibit enzymes that allow DNA to be replicated	Many types of cancer	Actinomycin-D
			Bleomycine
			Anthracyclines (daunorubicin, doxorubicin)
Topoisomerase inhibitors	Inhibit topoisomerase I or II	Leukemia, lung, ovarian, intestinal cancer	Topoisomerase I: irinotecan, topotecan
			Topoisomerase II: etoposide, teniposide