How cancer cells evade this chemotherapy drug
Researchers have discovered that colorectal cancer cells can adapt their mitochondria to resist chemotherapy drug 5-fluorouracil. This finding provides insight into why some cancers become treatment-resistant and highlights the role of metabolic stress in tumor survival.
Why it matters
Understanding these cellular mechanisms is critical for developing more effective cancer treatments and overcoming drug resistance in patients.
As bowel cancer becomes more common among people in their 50s and younger, concerns about early-onset cancer have been magnified by the disease’s growing resistance to chemotherapy.
But in what could prove to be a hopeful sign for patients, a team of Britain-based scientists has figured out what has been making treatment less effective.
Colorectal cancer cells that survive a dose of the chemotherapy drug 5-fluorouracil (5FU) are able to adapt their mitochondria – the cell’s energy hubs – to evade treatment, according to researchers at Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB).
“Cancer cells can reprogramme these functions to support tumour growth and withstand stress, which helps them resist treatments that would otherwise eliminate them,” says QUB Johnston Cancer Research Centre senior lecturer Dr Emma Kerr.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in