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Ewing sarcoma cells, by Lance Liotta Laboratory, Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/deed.en)

A new study shows that the only cancer cells killed by chemotherapy may be ones that are about to die anyway. Chemotherapy is standard treatment for most cancers.

The study, “Heightened mitochondrial priming is the basis for apoptotic hypersensitivity of CD4⁺ CD8⁺ thymocytes” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  It examined apoptosis, the natural and orderly process of cellular death. This process is probably deranged in cancer cells, so that dying cells may hang on longer. The researchers developed a method of profiling cells to identify the stage of their apoptotic status. The purpose of the research was to identify cells for oncologists to target with chemotherapy.

Small cell lung cancer, by Nephron,Leukemia cells, from PLoS, Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/deed.en)

But, what wasn’t discussed is the implications of chemotherapy only killing cells that are on the verge of dying, anyway. How much does the patient benefit, if that treatment doesn’t kill off active cells, but only those that are slotted for death already?

Most cancers do not respond well to chemotherapy, though it’s widely used on nearly all kinds. However, lymph-related cancers are an exception. Chemotherapy, though debilitating, does result in long term disappearance of lymphatic cancers, such as Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. The study offers an explanation for that distinction. The researchers wrote:

Many lymphoid cancers are curable with chemotherapy alone, and almost all demonstrate an initial response to chemotherapy. This property may arise from the fact that lymphoid malignancies are derived from normal cells that are already primed to be receptive to apoptotic signaling.

Leukemia cells, from PLoS, Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/deed.en)

In other words, lymph cancers start in cells that are already near natural cell death. Therefore, chemotherapy is successful because the cells that the treatment can kill are virtually all of them, unlike most other types of cancer.

Chemotherapy drugs are among the most debilitating pharmaceuticals. They result in patients’ abject misery, weaken them so they’re susceptible to other deadly diseases, and are even known to cause cancer—the disease they’re supposedly treating. The PNAS study documents that, in most cases, there is little chance for success.

It’s been known for a long time that effectiveness of chemotherapy in most cancers is an illusion. This study demonstrates why. Certainly, cancers are shrunk by the therapy. Cancerous cells are killed. Unfortunately, the ones that are killed are those that are slated to die anyway. The only thing accomplished by chemotherapy is that they may be killed earlier.

The lack of benefit that’s been experienced from chemotherapy in most cancers now appears to be explained. Will the doctors who say that they believe in evidence-based treatment stop putting the multitude of cancer patients through the misery of this treatment, destroying the quality of what’s left of their lives—and keeping them from trying alternatives that might be successful—or will they continue the fraud?