Certainly. Many of them are quite well understood.
Interesting note. I just read that the discovery of chemotherapy derived from chemical weapons research. Alfred Gilman and Fred Philips were researching the effects of chemical weapons for the army during WWII (they were researching antidotes and treatments methods). They found that mustard gas primarily targeted lymph cells and white blood cells, which were the fastest multiplying cells in the human body. They had the insight that cancer cells were also fast multiplying cells and would therefore have the same vulnerability. In 1946 they isolated the chemical in mustard gas that specifically had this effect and began testing it successfully as a cancer treatment.
If you know that there’s a potential for chemotherapy drugs and radiation to induce secondary malignancies, obviously the smart thing to do is refuse these therapies and instead take handfuls of vitamin C and coffee enemas.
At least that’s what the alt med sites and supplement dealers tell you.
Or you can use the knowledge, along with accurate information about just how much mainstream treatments can benefit you, to make intelligent decisions. Do your odds of long-term survival increase from, say, 65% to 80% with chemo/radiation compared to surgery alone? Is that worth the risks associated with treatment? What are the unpleasant effects associated with the cancer itself? (I often run into commenters online who seem to think side effects are only something caused by treatment, while cancer is mild up until the time it kills you).
Not so.
There was a study in rodents that came out awhile back, showing that chemotherapy stimulated growth of resistant stem cells in the tumor under investigation. Anti-medical/alt med sources jumped on this story as a reason to avoid all chemotherapy. What they did not mention was that the lead researcher was emphasizing how his team’s findings offered a great opportunity to make chemotherapy even more effective, and that patients should not be scared away from using it if indicated in their treatment.