Scientists at Weil Cornell Medicine, USA have conducted a very interesting study in the field of cancer. As per the study cancer cells have the ability to dodge chemotherapy by entering a state of active hibernation which is similar to senescence which enables them to control the stress induced by cancer treatments which are aggressive in nature and intend to destroy them. So in other words these cells may go dormant to evade chemotherapy.
The research was carried out in both organoids and mouse models made from samples of patients suffering from Acute Myeloid Leukaemia(AML) tumours. Verification of these findings was done by looking at samples from patients which were collected throughout the course of treatment and relapse.This study was published in Cancer Discovery which is a Journal of the American Association for Cancer Research in which the researchers reported that this biologic process could help them in understanding why cancers so often recur despite patient undergoing the complete chemotherapy treatment.
One question that still remains unsatisfactorily unanswered for doctors treating cancers and researchers working in the field of cancer is that why do tumours many a times reappear after they are completely treated or removed by chemotherapy? There are two theories behind this, one of which says that not all cells within a tumour are at the same genetic level that is why a small subset of tumour cells are able to resist the treatment and the other one says that some of the cells within a tumour have special properties which allows them to re-form a tumour after the complete chemotherapy has been given to the patient. This reveals that work in the field of cancer research needs to be ongoing till answers to many medical conditions are given in a way that fulfils expectations or needs with proof.
SOURCE: www.aninews.in
