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Anemia is able to fight cancer cells

 
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Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
 
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12 January 2013, 09:07

There is no thin without good - as the well-known proverb says, and that this statement is not without sense, scientists from the University of Duke, who are engaged in research of oncological diseases, became convinced. During the research, physicians found that an organism that suffers from sickle cell anemia is able to fight cells of malignant cancerous tumors.

Sickle cells that are formed in the body of a person who is sick with anemia, deform and have the ability to "glue together", that is, to unite in 2-3 cells. Thus, sickle cells can block blood vessels, which causes a slow flow of blood to the cells of the cancerous tumor. In addition, cells formed by crescent anemia release toxic substances that affect and can even destroy cancer cells. This moment is actual for such areas of the body, in which oxygen gets hard: if the area affected by a malignant tumor turns out to be without oxygen, then it is "strangled" with toxins in a matter of minutes.

After the dependence of sickle cells and cancer cells was revealed, the scientists conducted a series of experiments to consolidate the result and analyze what was happening. The first experiments were carried out at the University of Duke in the USA on small rodents. The researchers injected visible sickle cells into the blood of animals and observed the processes that developed in the body. After a short time, the cells that got into the blood began to deform, stick together, thus involuntarily clogging the small blood vessels first, and then larger ones. As a result, the tissues that were behind the cells blocked by the vessel turned out to be without oxygen and were doomed to perish. Following the complete absence of oxygen, scientists observed the release of toxic substances from sickle cells, and then the destruction of cancer cells that were trapped.

Cells capable of blocking the entry of oxygen into 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 is the pathology of hemoglobin in human blood. People living in areas where malaria prevails suffer from anemia.

First of all, the tissues of blood and bone marrow are affected, and the first symptoms of sickle cell anemia are pain in the joints, swelling on the extremities caused by the appearance of thrombi.

Scientists suggest that this discovery will make a significant breakthrough in the study of possible treatments for malignant tumors. Mutated blood cells, which appear in anemia, suggested how it is possible to fight cancer. With the help of oxygen blocking, which is necessary for foreign cells for reproduction and existence, physicians will conduct new experiments on animals to find out whether it is really possible to rid the body of cancer cells with this method. This approach can be effective in treating the most common cancers: prostate cancer or breast cancer.

trusted-source[1], [2], [3], [4]

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