Socio-Economics History Blog

Socio-Economics History Blog

Shock Study: Chemotherapy Can Backfire, Make Cancer Worse by Triggering Tumor Growth!

by mosesman

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctd-QF982mA]

  • Shock study: Chemotherapy can  backfire, make cancer worse by triggering tumor growth! 
    by http://www.nydailynews.com/ 
     Scientists found that  healthy cells damaged by chemotherapy secreted more of a protein called WNT16B,  which boosts cancer cell survival. ‘The increase in WNT16B was completely unexpected,” said Peter Nelson, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research  Center.
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     Long considered the most effective cancer-fighting treatment, chemotherapy  may actually make cancer worse, according to a shocking new study. The extremely aggressive therapy, which kills both cancerous and healthy  cells indiscriminately, can cause healthy cells to secrete a protein that  sustains tumor growth and resistance to further treatment.
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    Researchers in the United States made the “completely unexpected” finding  while seeking to explain why cancer cells are so resilient inside the human body  when they are easy to kill in the lab.
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    They tested the effects of a type of chemotherapy on tissue collected from  men with prostate cancer, and found “evidence of DNA damage” in healthy cells  after treatment, the scientists wrote in Nature Medicine.
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    Chemotherapy works by inhibiting reproduction of fast-dividing cells such as  those found in tumors. The scientists found that healthy cells damaged by chemotherapy secreted  more of a protein called WNT16B which boosts cancer cell survival.
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    “The increase in WNT16B was completely unexpected,” study co-author Peter  Nelson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle told  AFP. The protein was taken up by tumor cells neighboring the damaged cells. “WNT16B, when secreted, would interact with nearby tumor cells and cause  them to grow, invade, and importantly, resist subsequent therapy,” said  Nelson.
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    In cancer treatment, tumors often respond well initially, followed by rapid  re-growth and then resistance to further chemotherapy. Rates of tumor cell reproduction have been shown to accelerate between  treatments. “Our results indicate that damage responses in benign cells… may directly  contribute to enhanced tumor growth kinetics,” wrote the team. The researchers said they confirmed their findings with breast and ovarian  cancer tumors.
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    read more!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeYMduufa-E]
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