The components of the beauty product Botox could slow the progression of stomach cancer. This is what a recent American study reveals.
Who says Botox says wrinkles, beauty salons, Hollywood … and, perhaps soon, stomach cancer. Indeed, injections of the product could slow the progression of this cancer, as surely as it erases the folds of the face, according to researchers of the University of Colombia in New York and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Action on cancer cells
The work of Professors Timothy Wang and Duan Chen is published in the journal Science Transnational Medicine. Carried out in mice with stomach cancer, four different methods of suppressing the nerve impulses during lifelong Botox injections blocked the progression of the rodent tumor. The product therefore acted as a brake by blocking acetylcholine, a key neurotransmitter that regulates the growth of cancer cells. “The nerves control the cancer cells. Blocking the body’s nerve signals therefore makes these cells more vulnerable and helps stop the development of cancer, ”explains Professor Wang.
4th cancer in France
Stomach cancer is a common cancer (2nd after lung) and often serious. In France, there are 9,000 new cases per year, especially between 50 and 70 years old and affects two men for one woman. Drug treatments, radiation therapy and, when possible, partial or total ablation, are currently the only options for treating this cancer.
A Japanese study has already shown that chemotherapy accompanied by regular injections of Botox could lengthen the lifespan of mice with stomach cancer by 35%, compared to a conventional one.
The discoveries of the American and Norwegian professors open up encouraging prospects. It remains to test them in humans. This is also what Professor Chen intends to do in Norway in the near future, with a caveat. For him, Botox can only be “a complementary treatment” in stomach cancer.
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