Chemotherapy gene may help cancer thrive

[Al-khiyal]

19 May, 2007 -- US scientists fear a gene thought to be crucial for chemotherapy to work may instead help cancer survive or help it come back again.

The p53 gene's job is to tell faulty cells to self destruct, and so experts assumed it helped in killing cancer cells that chemotherapy had injured.

But a trial at the Georgia Institute of Technology has found chemotherapy patients with normally functioning p53 fare worse than those with mutated p53.

If this is the case, a new strategy for fighting cancer might be to develop drugs to disable the functioning of p53 in the tumors of patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Lead researcher John McDonald explained: "We propose that p53 may help repair some of the cancer cells damaged by chemotherapy leading to tumor recurrence and explaining the higher mortality rate of patients whose tumors had a functioning p53.

"If we are correct, inhibiting p53 in tumors being treated with chemotherapy may substantially improve patients' long-term survival."

His team studied tumor samples from patients with ovarian cancer. Some of the cancer patients had been treated with chemotherapy prior to surgery, and some had not.

Only 30% of the chemotherapy patients who had normally functioning p53 were alive five years later, compared to 70% of those with mutated, non-functioning p53.

Studies suggest that p53 actually continues to protect some cancer cells from the effects of chemotherapy. This will be a very important finding if it is confirmed in other experiments - and it might help in developing better ways to treat ovarian cancers.

Chemotherapy gene may help cancer thrive

[Bent_Bladi]

freakin cancer!! just die !!!!

[amalgamate]

Oooh Myyy Allah... the p53 gene for cell destruction, helping cancer growth!!? what are the odds of that!?

subhanallah--"...Verily Allah knows and you know not."

إِنَّ اللّهَ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ (16:74

[Cheba_Mami]

something completely different: HIV viruses use the hosts immunesystem, the system that should be there to protect the host from invasive particles...

thus....in some cases it happens. Researchgroups are trying hard to solve these life time problesms, but i agree He knows what we know not.