Aug 21, 2014 12:46 PM EDT By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Botox injections are usually used to fight signs of aging, but a recent study has suggested that the toxin could actually help fight cancer.

Researchers found that Botox - which halts aging by disrupting nerve function to relax muscles and even out wrinkles - could stop the growth of stomach tumors and make them more responsive or vulnerable to chemotherapy, BBC News reported.

"If you just cut nerves is it going to cure cancer? Probably not," study author Dr. Timothy Wang told BBC News. "At least in early phase, if you [disrupt the nerve], the tumor becomes much more responsive to chemotherapy, so we don't see this as a single cure, but making current and future treatments more effective."

Previous studies have suggested that nerves can also help fuel cancer growth.

"Over the last few years, some evidence has emerged that certain stomach cancers might depend on signals from the nervous system to grow," Eleanor Barrie, senior science communications manager at Cancer Research UK, told BBC News. "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."

Researchers warned that there is a long way to go before the toxin is considered a cancer treatment.

"With everything new in cancer, even if it looks great, when you start to roll it out to patients it always seems cancer is smarter than we are," Wang said. "Tumors have the ability to out-evolve any single agent, knocking one leg of a stool is probably not going to topple it. But I think this has a lot of potential, and in a decade or two, I can see these pathways being targeted."

The findings were recently published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

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