Cancer research discovery at McMaster University

It’s a question that’s long troubled cancer researchers. Why do they see cancer re-occur for someone who was tested to be cancer free? Now, a top research team at McMaster University thinks it’s discovered part of the answer.

Research Doctor Mick Bhatia believes he’s targeted the cells responsible for the re-occurrence of cancer in leukemia patients.

“There’s very few of them in the body…very hard to see. We studied this and what we found was the cells that were remaining, they actually respond in a unique way to the chemotherapy and they kind of hide.”

Close to 80% of leukaemia patients see their cancer come back because he says of these hidden cells.

“We have a better understanding of where these cells were hiding and how they were hiding so we have a better idea of the culprit. The culprit, these cells have very unique proteins that they express.”

Identifying the culprits is the first step, finding a treatment or therapy to combat them is the next

Researchers are now testing a couple of candidate drugs to be used with chemotherapy to fight all of the cancerous cells both obvious and hidden.