Cancer treatments can make tumors stronger

Chemotherapy and other cancer treatments are supposed to get rid of the disease, but a new study finds they can elicit aggressive tumor growth instead, STAT reports today. The problem is that cancer therapies do not kill every malignant cell, and those left behind are resilient. Writing in the Journal of Experimental Medicine last week, researchers revealed how some cancer treatments can trigger an inflammatory response that makes tumors stronger. That doesn’t mean patients should stop treatment, caution the authors, who call these robust survivor cells a new therapeutic target.