Chemotherapy May Boost Cancer - ABC 33/40 - Birmingham News, Weather, Sports

Chemotherapy might backfire in some cancer patients.

Scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle say that chemotherapy might prompt tumors to emit a substance that helps maintain malignancy and boost resistance to drug therapy.

Researchers tested a form of chemotherapy on prostate cancer tissues and found that healthy cells damaged by the cancer therapy secreted more of a protein which seems to boost the survival of cancer cells.

The findings were later confirmed in breast and ovarian tumors.  The study appears in the latest journal, Nature Medicine.