Scientists discover increasing cancer cells after chemotherapy abnormality

Scientists at Trinity College Dublin found that after chemotherapy, some cancer cells do not die, but become giant “zombie cells”. They stop dividing, but release inflammatory substances that can create conditions for the tumor to regrow. The work is published in Science Advances.

The researchers treated cervical, bowel and lung cancer cells with cisplatin and etoposide. About 40% of the cells died in two days. The rest stopped breeding, increased about ten times and remained viable. This condition is called cellular aging.

It turned out that such cells depend on proteins of the IAP family that block self-destruction. Drugs BV6 and birinapant suppressed IAP and in the laboratory destroyed senescent cancer cells, almost without affecting normal. Together with chemotherapy, they markedly reduced the number of surviving cells.

The authors proposed a "double-stroke" scheme: first chemotherapy, five to seven days later an anti-IAP drug. However, efficacy has not yet been proven in animals and patients. Most of the experiments were carried out on cells in the laboratory.