what are alkylating agents used for
Alkylating Agents. Alkylating agents were one of the earliest classes of drugs used to treat cancer, beginning in the 1940âs. The biggest weakness of most cancer cells is that they are very sensitive to DNA damage. Alkylating agents work by reacting with the proteins that bond together to form the very delicate double helix structure of a DNA molecule, adding an alkyl group to some or all of them.