A study conducted at the University of Michigan and published in the journal called Nature proclaims that intestinal health is the key to surviving chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy works mostly by interfering with the processes for cell division, preventing the uncontrollable division that characterizes cancer, but also damaging healthy cells in the process. The researchers found that a mechanism that protects the gastrointestinal tracts in mice also preserves their bodies when delivered lethal doses of chemotherapy.

“All tumors from different tissues and organs can be killed by high doses of chemotherapy and radiation, but the current challenge for treating the later-staged metastasized cancer is that you actually kill the host before you kill the tumor,” said Jian-Guo Geng, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry.

What the breakthrough research shows is that the injection of a naturally-produced substance called R-spondin 1, activates stem cell production within the intestinal cell walls, counteracting the deleterious effects of chemotherapy in the intestinal tract. The substance protected the laboratory mice from death after they were injected with lethal amounts of chemotherapy drugs, without decreasing the sensitivity of tumors to the substances.

The study shows that 50 to 75 percent of the mice treated with the molecule survived. “Now we have found a way to protect the intestine in mice. The next step is to aim for a 100 percent survival rate in mice who are injected with the molecules and receive lethal doses of chemotherapy and radiation,” Geng said.

Could probiotics be the key to natural chemotherapy resistance?

Your cells actually already contain the blueprint to produce R-spondin 1 on their own, according to Natural News. The intestines regenerate a layer of epithelial cells every 4-5 days in a healthy human being, because of the activation and continued operation of intestinal stem cells.

What’s suspected is that the local environment for these cells is paramount to their health. Thus, the predominance of healthy gut bacteria can encourage a healthy gastrointestinal tract and promote the regeneration of these epithelial cells.

Probiotics are “a key determining factor in the ability of your intestines to maintain the appropriate gene expression for the very kind of rapid cellular regeneration that can help your body survive a fatal dose of chemotherapy.”

Sources used:

NaturalNews.com

NSUMich.edu

Nature.com

Science.NaturalNews.com