(The Best Years in Life) In a new study just published online in the journal Science, researchers have found that cancer cells best targeted by chemo are already on the verge of self-destruction. Researchers found that cancer cells that are closer to threshold for programmed death via apoptosis are more susceptible to chemotherapy and that cancer cells which have yet to reach that stage are much more resistant.

“Many chemotherapy agents work by damaging structures within cancer cells, particularly DNA and microtubules [tiny tubes used for a variety of cell functions],” reported the study’s senior author, Anthony Letai, MD, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute which conducted the study. “When the damage becomes so extensive it can’t be repaired, the cells initiate a process known as apoptosis, in which they sacrifice themselves to avoid passing the damage on to their descendants.”

The researchers reported that they had found a way to profile cancers according to how close the cancer cells were to death which could help determine which ones might be most susceptible to chemo drugs. However, the study also appears to show that oftentimes chemo at best merely speeds the process of cellular death which every healthy cell is programmed to do. The study thus raises some important questions about the use of chemotherapy.

For example, would those cancer cells that respond to chemotherapy have died naturally anyway? And, if chemotherapy mostly only hastens a natural process, is it worth damaging healthy cells and organs and going through the debilitating effects of deadly chemo drugs?

As this author has previously reported, chemo does not cure cancer to begin with and often chemo spreads cancer or causes damage which kills the patient before the cancer can. See, for example:

Chemo Does Not Cure: Often It Inflicts Damage and Spreads Cancer

Chemo does nothing to address the root causes of cancer, it merely kills off cancer cells as well as healthy ones. Neither does chemo do anything to prevent the return of cancer. In fact, the damage done by chemo to the natural immune system and rest of the body makes it more likely that either the original cancer or another form of cancer will return.

Chemo is part of the failed mainstream cancer treatment paradigm of trying to address cancer by merely poisoning out, cutting out and/or burning out the mere symptoms of cancer. Of the three, chemo is by far the most commonly used option. It is also the most lucrative.

The average oncologist practice derives 75% of its income from the markups it makes on chemo drugs which it buys at wholesale prices and then heavily marks up to sell to the patients who are prescribed the drugs. Notably, in one survey 75% of oncologists reported that they would not use chemo or prescribe it for their family members due to the low success rates and horrific side effects. Yet, 75% of cancer patients are prescribed chemo.

Which leads to yet another question: Is the use of chemo really about healing? Perhaps the answer can be found in this quote by Oncologist Glen Warner:

"Chemotherapy is an incredibly lucrative business for doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies…..The medical establishment wants everyone to follow the same exact protocol. They don’t want to see the chemotherapy industry go under, and that’s the number one obstacle to any progress in oncology."

Other sources included:

http://www.wddty.com/chemo-targets-cancer-cells-that-were-dying-anyway.html
http://www.dana-farber.org/Newsroom/News-Releases/Research-makes-it-possible-to-predict-how-cancers-will-respond-to-chemo.aspx
http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/2011/Dana-FarberChemoResponseStudy