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Antioxidants, once touted as a cancer preventive, may actually spur the disease's spread. Now scientists have figured out how.
Whether taken as a dietary supplement or produced by the body, antioxidants appear to help lung cancer cells invade tissues beyond the chest cavity, two studies report online June 27 in Cell. Experiments in mice and human tissue revealed that antioxidants both safeguard tumors against cell-damaging molecules and prompt the accumulation of the protein Bach1. As Bach1 piles up, tumors burn through glucose at higher rates, thus fueling the cancer cells' migration to new organs (SN: 1/9/16, p. 13).
"The results provide a new mechanism for how lung cancer cells can spread and may lead to new possibilities for treatment," says Martin Bergö, a molecular biologist at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm who led one of the new studies.
[...] Bergö and his colleagues had previously found that supplement doses of antioxidants accelerate primary tumor growth in mice, and clinical trials have unearthed similar results in humans. Now knowing how antioxidants exacerbate cancer, scientists may be able to undermine the mechanism with drugs that inhibit Ho1, block Bach1 production or prevent glycolysis, the glucose-guzzling process that fuels tumors. Ho1 inhibitors are already U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved to treat inherited disorders called porphyrias, and could potentially be repurposed to fight cancer.
"Understanding why some cancers metastasize and some don't is one of the biggest problems in lung cancer right now," says Roy Herbst, a medical oncologist at Yale Cancer Center.
Recognizing this newfound pathway as a "potent promoter of metastasis" could help doctors develop new treatments, identify which tumors to treat aggressively and better advise patients about taking vitamin supplements, Herbst says. "This pathway could be explored in other tumor types — this will definitely have some impact on the field."
Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/antioxidants-lung-cancer-spread-prevent
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snotnose on Saturday July 06 2019, @11:23PM (4 children)
You get some Joe Random who does a study of 20 people and comes up with a surprising result of "OMG! Cigarette smoking pevents cancer!". The actual results, while too small a sample to be useful, actually show smokers die of heart disease before they can develop cancer.
But guess what headline Lester Holt starts his newscast with.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday July 06 2019, @11:27PM (2 children)
I just wish these eggheads would make up their fucking minds. One day we get a story about the benefits, the next day we get a story about vitamins causing cancer. Its like watching news about the economy. Ever since obama one day its "the economy's roaring" and the next day "the economy's crashing." Fucking cocksuckers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @02:05AM
It's not a religion, and they're not priests.
Even if the corporate media likes to present findings like religious doctrine handed down by priests.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Sunday July 07 2019, @02:20AM
But they are! Each one makes her/his own mind. Suggestion: start doing the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 06 2019, @11:40PM
Sounds like you buy into the "how much money you spend determines how reliable your conclusion are" idea. It is totally incorrect, but is something pushed to increase budgets and thus power. At best this stuff can get you incremental advancements, and the way eg NIH is run is far from "at best".