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'Dark side' of cancer drugs brings hope of cure

By Linda Geddes

25 March 2009

THE seemingly alarming discovery that some chemotherapies speed up the growth and spread of tumours in mice is prompting new approaches to the way these drugs are administered. The new approaches might completely destroy cancers that right now can only be delayed by drugs.

Many cancer drugs prolong people’s lives for months but don’t provide a cure. Most researchers assumed that this is because a few rogue cancer cells find ways to circumvent the drugs before the whole tumour has been killed off.

Now several studies in animals suggest that certain doses or combinations of drugs may actually speed up…

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