Chemotherapy works by blocking the replication of fast-dividing cells such as those found in cancers. Scientists have observed that cancer cells are so easy to kill in the laboratory using chemotherapy medicines, and yet when chemotherapy medicines are actually injected into patients with cancer, the effect is not as impressive. In fact, some cancers continue to grow and spread.

One possible reason was recently discovered by researchers in the United States.  They found that chemotherapy can damage normal or healthy cells as well, which then secrete more of a protein called WNT16B, which enhances cancer cell survival. This unexpected finding was reported by study co-author Peter Nelson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. As he explained, the protein was taken up by cancer cells, which made them grow, invade, and more importantly, resist subsequent therapy. This is also the reason for the observation that cancers often respond well initially to chemotherapy, but will grow rapidly later on and become resistant to further chemotherapy. In fact, many oncologists have also observed that cancer cell proliferation accelerates in-between chemotherapy.

Their findings may result in newer and better treatment. One option is to develop antibodies to block WNT16B. Another way may be to use a smaller dose or less toxic chemotherapy so that normal cells don’t get damaged.  When combined with gene therapy like Gendicine, which lowers the resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy, a lower and less toxic chemotherapy may be the solution.