Can Chemotherapy Worsen Lymphoma?

The connection between senescent cells and cancer growth appears quite plausible.

In response to the recent 2017 study, Austrian researcher Markus Schosserer, Ph.D. wrote in the November issue of Frontiers in Oncology that senescence plays a part in early stages of prenatal development, in healing of wounds, and in the aging process.

He concludes that there’s plenty of evidence that “senescent cancer cells can secrete molecules that cause inflammation and promote a rich environment for cancer to grow back.” (Schosserer is an assistant professor at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna)

In fact, “Researchers from Germany have now made a surprising discovery: senescence not only helps cancer cells avoid death, but it actually turns them into cancer stem cells.”