How Cancer Cells Resist Treatment

Cancer cells can resist treatment by changing how they respond to anticancer drugs. This resistance makes cancer harder to treat. It also helps explain why cancer remains a major health problem. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States.

Cancer cells are genetically unstabl...

Genetic instability allows cancer cells to acquire resistance to therapeutic drugs at a rapid rate.

For instance, while the initial drug treatment can eliminate most of the tumor cells, a small fraction of resistant mutant cells, called persisters, may tolerate the drug treatment and divide to form another tumor. All the cells of this new...