Chemotherapy can promote cancer and cause more aggressive tumors.
'07.07.2017'
Source: Telegraph
Scientists warn: chemotherapy may contribute to the spread of cancer tumors and cause more aggressive forms of cancer. He writes about it Telegraph.
A new study suggests that chemotherapy may contribute to the spread of cancer and cause more aggressive tumors.
Researchers from the United States studied the effects of accepted treatment procedures on patients with breast cancer, and found that some treatments increase the likelihood that cancer cells migrate to other parts of the body, which increases the risk of death.
In the UK, about 55 000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and 11 000 people die from this disease.
Many patients receive chemotherapy before surgery. But a new study shows that, although in the short term, the procedure reduces tumors, it can cause the spread of cancer cells throughout the body.
It is believed that toxic treatment includes the mechanisms of recovery of the body, which ultimately allows tumors to grow stronger. It also increases the number of “doorways” in the blood vessels that allow cancer to spread throughout the body.
Dr. George Karajaninis from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York found that the number of “doorways” increased in 20 patients who received two conventional chemotherapy drugs.
He also found that in mice, breast cancer chemotherapy increased the number of cancer cells circulating in the body and in the lungs.
Dr. Karadjaninis points out that during chemotherapy, patients should be regularly examined to see if cancer begins to circulate through the body and if “doorways” appear.
“One approach would be to get a small amount of tumor tissue after several doses of preoperative chemotherapy,” he says.
“If we notice that the markers are increased, we recommend that you first stop chemotherapy and perform surgery, and then start postoperative chemistry. We are currently planning to conduct more extensive trials to address this issue. In this study, we only examined the spread of cancer cells induced by chemotherapy in breast cancer. We are now working on other cancers to see if similar effects occur, ”says the scientist.
The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
