While antioxidants may be good for healthy people, researchers found they promote cancer growth in a study with mice.
The study, researchers said, echoes some other study results showing cancer patients’ tumors actually grew while being treated with antioxidants.
The new study suggests cancer patients be treated with pro-oxidants, researchers at the University of Texas said.
“We discovered that metastasizing melanoma cells experience very high levels of oxidative stress, which leads to the death of most metastasizing cells,” said Dr. Sean Morrison, CRI Director and Mary McDermott Cook Chair in Pediatric Genetics at UT Southwestern Medical Center, in a press release. “Administration of antioxidants to the mice allowed more of the metastasizing melanoma cells to survive, increasing metastatic disease burden.”
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