Medical expert of the article
New publications
Anemia can fight cancer cells
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Every cloud has a silver lining – so goes the well-known proverb, and scientists from Duke University, who are studying oncological diseases, have found that this statement is not without meaning. During their research, doctors have found out that an organism that suffers from sickle cell anemia is able to fight malignant cancer cells.
Sickle cells, which form in the body of a person with anemia, are deformed and have the ability to "stick together", that is, to unite 2-3 cells. Thus, sickle cells can block blood vessels, which causes a slow blood flow to the cells of the cancerous tumor. In addition, cells formed as a result of sickle anemia secrete toxic substances that affect and can even destroy cancer cells. This point is relevant for such areas of the body to which oxygen hardly gets: if the area affected by a malignant tumor is without oxygen, then in a matter of time it is "strangled" by toxins.
After the dependence of sickle cells and cancer cells was discovered, scientists conducted a series of experiments to consolidate the results and analyze what was happening. The first experiments were conducted at Duke University in the United States on small rodents. Researchers injected visible sickle cells into the animals' blood and observed the processes that developed in the body. After a short time, the cells that entered the blood began to deform, stick together, thereby involuntarily clogging first small blood vessels, and then larger ones. As a result, the tissues that were behind the vessel blocked by the cells were left without oxygen and were doomed to die. Following the complete absence of oxygen, scientists observed the release of toxic substances from the sickle cells, and then the destruction of the cancer cells that were trapped.
Cells capable of blocking oxygen supply to tissues are formed in the human body affected by sickle cell anemia. This disease is most common in the regions of the Southern Hemisphere and consists of a pathology of hemoglobin in human blood. Usually, people living in areas where malaria is prevalent suffer from anemia.
The tissues of the blood and bone marrow are primarily affected, and the first symptoms of sickle cell anemia are pain in the joints and swelling in the limbs caused by the formation of blood clots.
Scientists believe that this discovery will allow a significant breakthrough in the study of possible treatments for malignant tumors. Mutated blood cells that appear in anemia have suggested how exactly cancer tumors can be fought. By blocking oxygen, which foreign cells need to reproduce and exist, doctors will conduct new experiments on animals to find out whether this method can really rid the body of cancer cells. This approach may be effective in treating the most common cancers: prostate cancer or breast cancer.
[