Chemo 'Can Backfire and Boost Cancer'

CANCER-BUSTING chemotherapy can cause damage to healthy cells which triggers them to secrete a protein that sustains tumour growth and resistance to further treatment, a study has found.

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.

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.

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.

"The increase in WNT16B was completely unexpected," study co-author Peter Nelson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle said.

The protein was taken up by tumour cells neighboring the damaged cells.

"WNT16B, when secreted, would interact with nearby tumour cells and cause them to grow, invade, and importantly, resist subsequent therapy," Dr Nelson said.

In cancer treatment, tumors often respond well initially, followed by rapid regrowth 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 tumor.

The result paves the way for research into new, improved treatment, said Dr Nelson.

"For example, an antibody to WNT16B, given with chemotherapy, may improve responses (kill more tumour cells)," he said in an email exchange.

"Alternatively, it may be possible to use smaller, less toxic doses of therapy."

http://www.news.com.au/world/chemo-can- ... 6443525724

Bingo Chemo Makes cancer Worse Doctors actually knew this!

Not always, freak. This is why so much research is going into targeted therapy. This means running a DNA screen on a tumor biopsy and then targeting the tumor with chemo drugs specifically designed for that tumor type.

It works and it works well.

Added to that is the ongoing research into cancer gene therapy. In a nutshell, a biopsy is taken, DNA is screened to find the what part of your DNA is damaged, the DNA is repaired and inserted back into your body.

Before I retired, we had a lady that lived 7 years with Stage IV Lung Cancer after receiving gene therapy.

Good Gene therapy it is.