Botox is the New Cure for Stomach Cancer: Study

Botox helps fight against cancer, according to a study.

Botulinum toxic or botox is a protein extracted from the bacterium 'clostridium botulinum' and commonly used in cosmetic and medical procedures. It is directly injected in to  the skin to smoothen wrinkles and sagging  facial muscles. A recent research by Columbia University Medical Center in New York and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, found botox has anti-cancer properties and is effective in healing stomach cancer.

The experts used laboratory mice that were engineered to develop cancerous tumors in the stomach.  They injected botox to the endings of vagus nerves that serve as connections between the brain and stomach to supress the growth of tumors. This made cancer cells perish during chemotherapy.

"If you just cut nerves is it going to cure cancer? Probably not. At least in early phase, if you disrupt the nerve the tumour becomes much more responsive to chemotherapy, so we don't see this as a single cure, but making current and future treatments more effective," said Timothy Wang, researcher at the Columbia University, reports the BBC.

Earlier clinical trials hold that the surgical correction of nerves helps treat people suffering from stomach and prostate cancer. But the current  study researchers believe this method needs further investigation before confirming its safety and efficacy as a sure-shot cure for gastric cancer.

"Over the last few years, some evidence has emerged that certain stomach cancers might depend on signals from the nervous system to grow," said Eleanor Barrie, the Cancer Research U.K.'s senior science communications manager, reports the BBC.

"This interesting study adds to that evidence, and shows how probing the inner workings of cancer can spark ideas for innovative new treatments. But the research is at an early stage and it's not yet clear if this particular approach could help to save patients' lives," she adds.

More information is available online in the journal Science Translation Medicine.