These agents primarily target the DNA within cancer cells. By attaching alkyl groups to the DNA bases, they form crosslinks which can be either interstrand (between two strands of DNA) or intrastrand (within the same DNA strand). This crosslinking leads to breaks in the DNA strands, triggering cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. The specificity of crosslinking agents for rapidly dividing cells makes them particularly effective against cancer cells, which proliferate more quickly than normal cells.
