Docetaxel (DTX or DXL), sold under the brand name Taxotere among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of types of cancer. This includes breast cancer, head and neck cancer, stomach cancer, prostate cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer. It may be used by itself or along with other chemotherapy medication. It is given by slow injection into a vein.Common side effects include hair loss, cytopenia (low blood cell counts), numbness, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, and muscle pains. Other severe side effects include allergic reactions and future cancers. Docetaxel induced pneumotoxicity is also a well recognized adverse effect which has to be identified timely and treated after withholding the drug  Side effects are more common in people with liver problems. Use during pregnancy may harm the baby. Docetaxel is in the taxane family of medications. It works by disrupting the normal function of microtubules and thereby stopping cell division.Docetaxel was patented in 1986 and approved for medical use in 1995. It is on the World Health Organizations List of Essential Medicines. Docetaxel is available as a generic medication. Medical uses
Docetaxel is used in the treatment of various cancers, including breast, lung, prostate, gastric, head and neck, and ovarian cancer. Clinical data have shown docetaxel to have cytotoxic activity against breast, colorectal, lung, ovarian, prostate, liver, renal, gastric, and head and neck cancers and melanoma.
Side effects
Common are:

infusion site reactions
low blood pressure
hair loss
pain and or burning at the IV site
constipation or diarrhea
metallic food taste
bone marrow suppression, leading to:
decreased white blood cell counts (leading to increased susceptibility to infections)
low red blood cell counts (anemia)
low platelet counts (leading to easy bruising and bleeding)Less common are:

nausea and vomiting
allergic-type reactions
rash
fever, often occurring shortly after IV administration and not due to infection
mouth sores
acute myeloid leukemia (which can be treated with etoposide itself)When given with warfarin, it may cause bleeding. Pharmacology
Mechanism of action
Etoposide forms a ternary complex with DNA and the topoisomerase II enzyme, which is an enzyme that aids in relaxing negative or positive supercoils in DNA. Topoisomerase II normally will form a double-stranded break in one DNA double-strand, allow another to pass through, and re-ligate the broken strands. Etoposides binding prevents topoisomerase II from re-ligating the broken DNA strands, which causes the DNA breaks made by topoisomerase II to stay broken, and also prevents the topoisomerase II molecule from leaving the site and relieving tension elsewhere. This results in a double-strand break in the DNA that can have various deleterious effects on the cell, and depletion of topoisomerase II available to relieve further tension. Cancer cells rely on this enzyme more than healthy cells, since they divide more rapidly. Therefore, this causes errors in DNA synthesis and promotes apoptosis of the cancer cell. Chemistry
Etoposide is a semisynthetic derivative of podophyllotoxin from the rhizome of the wild mandrake (Podophyllum peltatum). More specifically, it is a glycoside of podophyllotoxin with a D-glucose derivative.