Researchers at KU Leuven have made an important discovery pertaining to pancreatic cancer and its reaction to chemotherapy.
A sudden change in temperature of cancer cells can reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy on pancreatic tumours. That is the constatation of KU Leuven researchers, as published in Nature Communications. A cancerous pancreas is, apparently, a whole degree Celsius warmer than a healthy one, and that can cause cells to behave and metabolise differently, according to oncology professor Johan Swinnen.
It seems to have something to do with unsaturated fats, in the sense that higher temperature means there will be fewer unsaturated fats. They are one of the keys to the puzzle as chemo oxidises these fats. In other words: higher temperature equals fewer saturated fats, equals a less efficient treatment.
Every day, Belgian and other researchers are coming one step closer to curing all kinds of cancer once and for all. We can only applaud their efforts and encourage them to push on.
