Cancer cells can die quietly and then be recycled, but sometimes also promote the growth of nearby remaining cancer cells.
Cancer treatments such as chemotherapy kill tumor cells, usually by causing them to self-destruct, shrink and die quietly, or sometimes by triggering a more aggressive form of cell death. But what happens to cancer cells after death?
Normally, they will be recycled like any other dead cells in the body. When cancer cells die, their outer membrane is often damaged. This takes place in the form of “silent” cell death or apoptosis, a well-established process that eliminates unnecessary or damaged cells.
When the molecular switch that triggers apoptosis is turned on, the dying cell shrinks and membrane fragments escape through bulges. This causes the cell’s contents to leak out and attract phagocytes – immune cells responsible for swallowing cell debris.
Phagocytosis will envelop dead cancer cells, then break them down into smaller components such as sugars and nucleic acids. Through this process, dead cancer cells are recycled into something that other cells can reuse later. In apoptosis – the type of cell death that traditional cancer therapies target – cancer cell fragments are often recycled in this way rather than being eliminated from the body, for example through urine.
Cancer therapy sometimes also causes other types of cell death such as necroptosis – a type of “explosive” cell death in which tumor cells swell and burst rather than shrink. Phagocytosis also effectively destroys these dying cells.
However, cancer cells do not always go away quietly. Research shows that when they release inflammatory debris, they can sometimes promote the growth of nearby remaining cancer cells. This phenomenon is called the Révész effect, which helps explain why some cases of cancer recur after treatment.
A 2023 study by a team of experts at the US National Cancer Institute found that the control center, or nucleus, of dying cancer cells can sometimes swell and burst, spraying DNA and other molecules. out around. In mice, these molecules were able to accelerate metastasis – a condition in which cancer cells spread beyond the original tumor.
Such studies help explain how tumor cell death contributes to cancer progression and recurrence. However, research is still in its relatively early stages and scientists do not fully understand this connection.
With more research in the future, they aim to better understand the biological mechanisms behind cancer, thereby developing more effective treatments. For example, a 2018 study suggests an approach to combating tumor growth caused by dead cancer cell fragments relies on resolvin, a molecule derived from omega 3 that may help reduce inflammation and cytokine effects. while promoting the clearance of cellular debris.