Cancer Drugs Could Cause Tumours To Spread

maize

Cancer Drugs Could Cause Tumours To Spread, Rather Than Preventing Them, Warns Study

"Professor Raghu Kalluri, from the study, says: "If you just looked at tumour growth, the results were good. But when you looked at the whole picture, inhibiting tumour vessels was not controlling cancer progession. The cancer was, in fact, spreading."

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/01/17/cancer-drugs-might-help-tumours-spread_n_1210647.html

flash

this applies to cancer drugs that are acting on the blood supply, not your regular chemo that's just indiscriminately killing fast growing cells.

sweetbean

so the drugs drove the cancer cells to oxygen-starved areas, where they thrived.  Is it me, or did this study make a great case for exercise?  Is it true that exercise oxygenates the cells/body?  So if you exercised, the cancer cells would have no place to thrive?

Momine

I am more and more convinced that exercise, and quite a lot of it, is key. My mom went through ovarian cancer 5 years ago. She had major surgery and 6 rounds of taxotere. She was 67 at DX. During treatment she went to an exercise program at the hospital, and she was also given a gym membership. She was always physically active, but has become more vigilant about it after her illness. She is 5 years out and disease free, and I can't help but think that the regular exercise has played a part in that good outcome from a cancer that is usually pretty treacherous.

maize

Momine,

All the doctors I've had to see keep mentioning regular, daily exercise and not gaining weight.  Glad to read your mom is 5 years out!