Illustrative image. Internet.
OTTAWA, April 18 (RHC) Cancer cells resort to a hibernation-like evolutionary survival event that enables them to survive the adverse conditions posed by chemotherapy and cancer treatments, a new study revealed Monday.
According to a publication in the journal Cell, which specializes in molecular biology, this event is called “diapause,” which occurs in undifferentiated cells that have not yet matured.
However, the text indicates that cancer cells use it to resist chemotherapy.
To reach these conclusions, a team from the University Health Network’s Princess Margaret Cancer Center in Toronto, Canada, used colon cancer cells for their study and found that by administering appropriate drugs, resistance to chemotherapy could be reversed and destroyed in the cells.
dr Catherine O’Brien, lead author of the study, explained that many animals, including some mammals, resort to a state where their metabolism slows below normal to conserve energy, allowing them to withstand hostile environments. It’s like a kind of hibernation.
“It appears that cancer cells have cunningly chosen this very state for their survival advantage,” he said.
For his part, Aaron Schimmer, director of the research institute, pointed out that it had never before been discovered that cancer cells hibernate like bears.
This study also tells us how to target these dormant cells so they don’t go into hibernation and wake up, only to return unexpectedly later. (fuente: Latin Press).