Posted on 03/06/2024 8:35:50 PM PST by ConservativeMind
People who are diagnosed with head and neck cancer often receive a standard type of chemotherapy as part of their treatment. If they are exposed to secondhand smoke during chemotherapy—even if they have never smoked themselves—the treatment may be far less effective at killing cancer cells.
In her laboratory, Queimado and her team exposed head and neck cancer cells to secondhand smoke for 48 hours (a control group of cancer cells was not exposed to secondhand smoke). Simultaneously, the cells were treated with cisplatin, a chemotherapy drug commonly used to treat head and neck cancer. The findings were significant: Twice as much chemotherapy was needed to kill the cells than would have been necessary without exposure to secondhand smoke. In addition, the cancer cells that survived chemotherapy treatment were much more likely to replicate indefinitely.
"This was concerning to discover because not only was the effectiveness of the chemotherapy cut in half, but the cells that survived were able to divide and create huge colonies of cancer cells," Queimado said.
"Cisplatin kills cancer cells by binding to their DNA and keeping the cells from dividing," she said. "But if cisplatin can't get into the cell, it's not going to kill it. In the presence of secondhand smoke, there were fewer doors for cisplatin to enter, and there were many more doors for cisplatin to exit. So not only is less cisplatin getting into the cell, but more of it is leaving the cell before it has a chance to kill it."
Cisplatin is the preferred type of chemotherapy for treating head and neck cancer, Queimado said, but physicians may want to consider another drug if they know their patients will be exposed to secondhand smoke during treatment. However, secondhand smoke exposure may affect other drugs, including non-cancer treatments.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
It is unfortunate this precise relationship was not previously known.
Please find ways to stay away from smoke, if on cisplatin.
The truth about the use of Cisplatin is, after 2 years, you die of a different cancer, usually Lung cancer
Where did they find a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy to prove this on? Chemo has by itself damn near killed everyone I know who had to do it. I haven’t met any who wanted to hang with a bunch of smokers. I’m glad I got through prostate cancer with radiation. I also didn’t feel like sex or a cigarette when it was over.
How about wood smoke from wood stoves. How about all those exposed to the forest fire smoke. How about those exposed to car exhaust. Smoke from greasy food. Are they all magically different?
They didn’t test with those.
chemo is a dicey form of treatment. I’m familiar with the post-surgical treatments going back to the 70s, and the improved pre-surgical chemo cocktails that arrived after year 2k.
Regarding the 2nd hand smoke, not only is the concentration/ppm significant but also the general stress of the environment. For example, it may not be the smoke, but instead the interpersonal dynamics of the patient and the smoker. Or a combination of both. It would be interesting to know the related cancer rates that precipitated the chemo. There’s also the data dimension where the patient is isolated from the existing environment, and another dimension where the patient is isolated but also subject to similar particulates.
+1
My experience with prostate cancer was all I ever want to have to go through. I researched the issue and decided on the Radiation. I worked in the industry for over 30 years and it didn’t frighten me. What I’ve seen with people I know and chemo does. The extra time if any it bought a close friend of mine with stage 4 colon cancer wasn’t worth the time and life quality he lost doing the chemo in my opinion. If he was still alive I would ask him. We all make our choices, hopefully they work out. Some don’t.
>> The extra time if any it bought a close friend of mine with stage 4 colon cancer wasn’t worth the time
I’m familiar with that as well. An acquaintance chose to forgo treatment given the suffering of the parent with the same condition.
It was a lousy choice for him to have to make after watching his wife do chemo during her fight with brain cancer. He said he’d never do chemo after watching her go through it. Then changed his mind after looking at it face on. I can say he said he would never do it again. Sadly he won’t have to decide. A perforated bowel and complications made the decision. If given the choice of doing it now personally I may go down to the tracks and let the 219 decide it for me. Regards
I have decided that if I get cancer, I refuse chemo. It hasn’t helped anyone that I know of who had cancer.
“...Queimado and her team exposed head and neck cancer cells to secondhand smoke for 48 hours...”
Done in laboratory setting outside of a living person. Biological processes behave differently in vitro vs in situ. For openers.
I used to smoke cigarettes - a lot. Had two simple rules: (1) Never smoke around anyone who doesn’t smoke. This of course included especially pregnant women and anyone sick in any way. (2) Don’t throw the butts on the ground. IOW don’t litter.
It’s called common courtesy and decency.
I'm mixed on that one. I've had a long life and seen a lot. Also, chemo can be living hell. That said, I have several friends who are cancer survivors. Chemo definitely helped them.
Seems to me that secondhand smoke is not the problem but rather points toward other lifestyle factors a person living in close proximity to smokers might have... birds of a feather type thing.
There’s my neighbor who has Buerger’s Disease from smoking. They amputated her toes on one foot. For two years she had other surgeries and now she’s in a wheelchair with no legs below her knees. Then lung cancer appeared
She never stopped smoking even during chemo, and she still does AFAIK.
When the report includes the words “study finds,” be skeptical.
Suuuure...how many things did they not test in their campaign to blame smokers?
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