Findings point to an 'off switch' for drug resistance in cancer

(Salk Institute) Like a colony of bacteria or species of animals, cancer cells within a tumor must evolve to survive. A dose of chemotherapy may kill hundreds of thousands of cancer cells, for example, but a single cell with a unique mutation can survive and quickly generate a new batch of drug-resistant cells, making cancer hard to combat. Scientists at the Salk Institute have uncovered details about how cancer is able to become drug resistant over time.