Putting Cancer Cells to Sleep May Not Be Enough
Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2018 2:45 pm
“When it comes to cancer treatment, many doctors use chemotherapy to stop or slow the growth of a tumor. However, new research presented in the journal Nature suggests that certain types of chemo that aim to put cancers into a so-called sleep state may not be as effective as once thought, Medical News Today reports.
The Vienna-based study focused on a cancer-fighting phenomenon known as senescence, in which cancer cells essentially go to sleep after chemotherapy is used to damage their DNA beyond repair (instead of killing the cancer outright, like other types of chemo). The process was discovered more than 50 years ago and until recently was thought to induce a state of irreversible growth arrest for malignant tumors, meaning that the cells remain in place but stop growing.
But now scientists say they may have discovered why in certain cases, this sleep state may actually provide a fertile area for cancer stem cells to grow in the body — which could pave the way for tumors to metastasize, or grow back and spread.”
https://www.cancerhealth.com/article/pu ... may-enough
The Vienna-based study focused on a cancer-fighting phenomenon known as senescence, in which cancer cells essentially go to sleep after chemotherapy is used to damage their DNA beyond repair (instead of killing the cancer outright, like other types of chemo). The process was discovered more than 50 years ago and until recently was thought to induce a state of irreversible growth arrest for malignant tumors, meaning that the cells remain in place but stop growing.
But now scientists say they may have discovered why in certain cases, this sleep state may actually provide a fertile area for cancer stem cells to grow in the body — which could pave the way for tumors to metastasize, or grow back and spread.”
https://www.cancerhealth.com/article/pu ... may-enough