We have shown that cytotoxic chemotherapy potently induces the expression of markers of cellular senescence in the hematologic compartment in vivo,
Chemotherapy ages us. It is a good feeling when researchers confirm something that you have suspected about chemotherapy. Full disclosure- I am not a breast cancer survivor. I am a multiple myeloma survivor. I had high-dose chemotherapy during an autologous stem cell transplant.
I feel like my aggressive chemo, radiation, etc. aged me at least the 15 years cited below.
Is there any way, any therapy to delay the loss of organ function in cancer survivors who have undergone chemotherapy? My experience over the past 20 plus years is that yes, organ function can be managed.
No I’m not talking about “anti-aging” therapies although you can look at many of the non-toxic therapies that I am talking about as slowing the aging process.Simply put, you will live longer, on average, by pursuing these therapies.
I’m talking about the previous blog I wrote about preventing cataracts. Or I’m talking about the blog I wrote about supplementation to reduce my chronic blood clot. The same blood clot that was caused by my chemotherapy…
The good news is that there are therapies that work integratively to either reduce the toxicity of conventional breast cancer chemotherapy or enhance the efficacy of conventional chemotherapies.
Reducing inflammation ages you more slowly.
In addition to being a cancer survivor I am also a cancer coach. To learn more about non-toxic, non-conventional breast cancer therapies, scroll down the page, post a question or comment and I will reply ASAP.
Thank you,
David Emerson
- Cancer Survivor
- Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
“Adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer is ‘gerontogenic,’ accelerating the pace of physiologic aging, according to a new study. The authors conclude, “We have shown that cytotoxic chemotherapy potently induces the expression of markers of cellular senescence in the hematologic compartment in vivo, comparable with the effects of 10 to 15 years of chronologic aging in independent cohorts of healthy donors.”
- You may experience neutropenia, a serious and potentially life-threatening side effect of chemotherapy.
- Side effects of treatment may linger longer than you expect.
- Tests are now available to see if you might benefit from chemotherapy.
- Advice might be anecdotal, not based on evidence.
- Most cancer patients do not participate in clinical trials.
- Chemo brain is real. Chemo ages you.
- Get a second opinion.
- Complementary or alternative treatment may help.
- Surviving cancer brings a new set of challenges.
- Beware of the ‘hidden’ costs of your treatment.
“Exercise not only appears to keep skin younger, it may also even reverse skin aging in people who start exercising late in life, according to surprising new research…”
“Senescence is activated in response to chemotherapy to prevent the propagation of cancer cells. In transformed cells, recent studies have shown that this response is not always definitive and that persistent populations can use senescence as an adaptive pathway to restart proliferation and become more aggressive.
Here we discuss the results showing that an incomplete and heterogeneous senescence response plays a key role in chemotherapy resistance. Surviving to successive chemotherapy regimens, chronically existing senescent cells can create a survival niche through paracrine cooperations with neighboring cells. This favors chemotherapy escape of premalignant clones but might also allow the survival of adjacent clones presenting a lower fitness.
A better characterization of senescence heterogeneity in transformed cells is therefore necessary. This will help us to understand this incomplete response to therapy and how it could generate clones with increased tumor capacity leading to disease relapse.”
