Healthy cells surrounding a malignant tumor slow down the growth of cancer, making it resistant to chemotherapy: The principle of this treatment is based on the destruction of rapidly growing cells. Two studies published in the journal Cell.
The scientists used 1,107 intestinal “mini tumors” obtained from mice. The analysis showed that colon cancer cells were able to switch from slow to fast growth, while healthy cells supported the cancer’s transition to slow growth. Because chemotherapy targets fast-growing cells, slow-growing cells are more likely to be resistant to treatment.
“Recent research has shown that bowel cancer patients with healthier cells in the tumor, including cells called fibroblasts involved in wound healing, often have a poorer prognosis. But until now we didn’t know why this was. Our research found that because chemotherapy targets fast-growing cells, “It shows that cancer cells whose growth is slowed by healthy cells become insensitive to chemotherapy,” explained the study’s lead author, Dr. Chris Tape.
In the second study, researchers sought to confirm their findings in human cells using more than 2,500 mini-tumors grown from the tissues of cancer patients who had undergone surgery. The results showed that factors such as the patient’s age and specific tumor mutations did not affect the cancer’s response to chemotherapy. The key factor was how fast the cancer was growing. Most importantly, healthy cells slowed the growth of cancer in some patients and sometimes completely protected the tumor from chemotherapy.
The authors believe that finding ways to put cancer cells into a rapid growth state before the patient begins chemotherapy could make treatment more effective.
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