Similarly, chemotherapy is designed to kill cancer cells, but some of them still survive treatment by entering a state known as cellular senescence. Senescent cancer cells are still metabolically active, releasing a mixture of molecules, collectively known as SASP (senescence-associated secretory phenotype), which affects neighboring cells. Mice implanted with ovarian cancer cells developed substantially more metastatic tumors when treated with the senescent cells' material than with the same materials from normal cells, despite no increase in cancer cell proliferation. And when the researchers disabled the cancer cells' ability to metabolize fructose, they found fewer cancer cells moving around. Related: Gut Bacteria May Reveal How a Western Diet Fuels Colon CancerThe work suggests chemotherapy-induced senescent cells actively remodel the tumor's metabolic environment in ways that encourage surviving cancer cells to spread.