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MUMBAI: Doctors at Tata Memorial Center here say they have discovered a mechanism for cancer metastasis and developed a nutraceutical therapy to minimize its risk. According to their decade-long research published in leading journals, dying cancer cells release “fragments of chromosomes” (chromatin) that sometimes fuse with healthy cells and cause new tumors.
A nutraceutical is a food or food product that provides health benefits beyond basic nutrition, often due to its added bioactive compounds or medicinal properties.
Study reveals dangers of chemotherapy and radiotherapy
Although many patients are cured of cancer, our study uncovered a potential risk involved in current cancer treatment practices,” Dr. Indraneel Mittra, who led the research, said Monday. While chemotherapy and radiation therapy kill primary tumor cells, they cause dying cancer cells to release chromatins, called cfChP, that could enter healthy cells in other parts of the body through the blood and “cause cancer there,” he said.
Other tests carried out on cfChP revealed that a nutraceutical made from copper and a plant (grapes or berries) could neutralize them and reduce the risk of metastasis, said former TMC director Dr Rajendra Badwe, present at the press conference. . TMC has partnered with a nutraceutical maker to make the drug, which could be prescribed as supportive treatment alongside chemotherapy, available in June.
Cancer metastasis has been a topic of intrigue for centuries. “How does cancer spread? There are cases where the cancerous tumor has been removed with treatment, but the patient dies,” said Dr Mittra. His team injected human breast cancer cells into mice. “We first treated the tumor that developed in the mice, did a brain biopsy and found cfChP from human cancer cells there,” Dr. Mittra said.
They conducted several rounds of research using surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation and found similar results. One arm of the study injected the nutraceutical into mice affected by tumors. “Brain biopsy of these mice revealed lower levels of CfChP,” she said.
In recent years, doctors began studying the effect of the nutraceutical called R-Cu, as it is a combination of grape extract resveratrol and copper, on humans. In some patients with oral, blood, stomach, and brain cancers, doctors added R-Cu to standard treatment with encouraging results.
“We used it on 20 blood cancer patients who developed painful ulcers in the mouth and esophagus after bone marrow transplant,” said Dr. Navin Khattry, deputy director of the TMC. Patients who received R-Cu had fewer ulcers. Similar findings among patients with stomach cancer were published in November 2022 in an indexed journal, Medical Oncology, he said.
Oral cancer surgeon Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, who tested the drug on oral cancer patients, said, “Our findings conclude that relatively inexpensive nutraceuticals can be used as an adjunct to chemotherapy to reduce its toxicity.”
The doctors said their findings have important implications for cancer treatment policies. First, clinicians should consider cfChPs as a potential cause of metastatic cancer spread, rather than metastasis being caused by migrating cancer cells. “Second, cancer treatment protocols may need to include agents that inactivate or destroy cfChPs,” Dr. Badwe said.
A nutraceutical is a food or food product that provides health benefits beyond basic nutrition, often due to its added bioactive compounds or medicinal properties.
Study reveals dangers of chemotherapy and radiotherapy
Although many patients are cured of cancer, our study uncovered a potential risk involved in current cancer treatment practices,” Dr. Indraneel Mittra, who led the research, said Monday. While chemotherapy and radiation therapy kill primary tumor cells, they cause dying cancer cells to release chromatins, called cfChP, that could enter healthy cells in other parts of the body through the blood and “cause cancer there,” he said.
Other tests carried out on cfChP revealed that a nutraceutical made from copper and a plant (grapes or berries) could neutralize them and reduce the risk of metastasis, said former TMC director Dr Rajendra Badwe, present at the press conference. . TMC has partnered with a nutraceutical maker to make the drug, which could be prescribed as supportive treatment alongside chemotherapy, available in June.
Cancer metastasis has been a topic of intrigue for centuries. “How does cancer spread? There are cases where the cancerous tumor has been removed with treatment, but the patient dies,” said Dr Mittra. His team injected human breast cancer cells into mice. “We first treated the tumor that developed in the mice, did a brain biopsy and found cfChP from human cancer cells there,” Dr. Mittra said.
They conducted several rounds of research using surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation and found similar results. One arm of the study injected the nutraceutical into mice affected by tumors. “Brain biopsy of these mice revealed lower levels of CfChP,” she said.
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“We used it on 20 blood cancer patients who developed painful ulcers in the mouth and esophagus after bone marrow transplant,” said Dr. Navin Khattry, deputy director of the TMC. Patients who received R-Cu had fewer ulcers. Similar findings among patients with stomach cancer were published in November 2022 in an indexed journal, Medical Oncology, he said.
Oral cancer surgeon Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, who tested the drug on oral cancer patients, said, “Our findings conclude that relatively inexpensive nutraceuticals can be used as an adjunct to chemotherapy to reduce its toxicity.”
The doctors said their findings have important implications for cancer treatment policies. First, clinicians should consider cfChPs as a potential cause of metastatic cancer spread, rather than metastasis being caused by migrating cancer cells. “Second, cancer treatment protocols may need to include agents that inactivate or destroy cfChPs,” Dr. Badwe said.