Jian-Guo Geng, an associate professor at the Faculty of dentistry University of Michigan, said that if the digestive tract remains healthy and functioning, the chances of survival increase exponentially.
Recently, the laboratory of Geng discovered a biological mechanism that preserves the gastrointestinal tract in mice which have been delivered to lethal doses of chemotherapy.
The results could revolutionize the treatment of cancer, said Geng.
He stressed that this had not yet been tested in humans and right now there is no way of knowing if people will react in the same way.
"All tumours of different tissues and organs can be killed by high doses of chemotherapy and radiation, but the current challenge for treating cancer metastasis in stages later, it is that you actually kill the host before you kill the tumor,", said Geng.
"It is our belief that this could potentially cure cancer metastasis in steps later. People die of cancer, if our forecast is true.
"We cannot know this yet, but in mice, it has shown promise. Years on the road, we have a way to make humans to tolerate lethal doses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In this way, cancer metastasis, put in scene later can be eradicated by added increased doses of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, "Geng.
Geng laboratory found that when certain proteins bind to a specific molecule on intestinal stem cells, it revs into overdrive for intestinal regeneration intestinal stem cells and repair in mice.
Stem cells naturally heal tissues and damaged organs, but 'normal' amounts so-called stem cells in the intestine can not simply follow with the rubble left by the lethal doses of chemotherapy and radiation necessary to successfully treat advanced stage tumours.
However, the phalanx of additional stem cells protect the intestines and gastrointestinal tract, which allows the ingestion of nutrients so that the body can perform other critical functions and bacterial toxins in the intestine are prevented from entering the bloodstream, said Geng.
In the future, if the findings are tested in humans and promising, these factors could give just human cancer patients enough an additional advantage to survive the higher doses of chemotherapy and radiation therapy to the tumor or tumors are eradicated.
Geng said that even if the results seem promising in humans, it could take a decade or longer before an application becomes available for use on people.
In the study, 50-75% of mice treated with the molecule has survived to the otherwise chemotherapy lethal doses. All mice who did not receive the molecule died, said Geng.
The results are published in the journal Nature.
Source-ANI
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