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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday July 06 2019, @10:05PM   Printer-friendly
from the unusual-results dept.

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

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


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @12:27AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @12:27AM (#863983)

    Two years from now we'll be reading that scientists have found a carbon dioxide deficit in the atmosphere and if we don't burn more fossil fuels the world will freeze in forty years.

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   -1  
       Troll=3, Insightful=1, Funny=1, Disagree=1, Total=6
    Extra 'Troll' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   -1  
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @02:43AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @02:43AM (#864006)

    Trolling from the book of "My ignorance is as good as your science"

  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @02:48AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @02:48AM (#864009)

    You jest, but half the anthropogenic CO2 that is produced disappears into biological sequestration. Tends to imply that the biosphere can handle a lot more CO2 than it has.
    We ramp it up giving it all that CO2 for a century or so and then turn it off, what happens? Atmospheric CO2 will crash badly, plants will die, biosphere in turmoil, wild plans to warm the planet using mirrors, solar-powered stations to break down carbonate minerals, Al Gore flying around saying "we must burn more carbon and I need a new mansion".

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @06:18AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @06:18AM (#864039)

      Flamebait huh?
      Obviously we need a -1 Heresy Mod.

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @07:59AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @07:59AM (#864057)

        What we actually need is a -1 Ignorant moron mod.

  • (Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Sunday July 07 2019, @03:26PM

    by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Sunday July 07 2019, @03:26PM (#864129)

    Follow the money. The original research defending tobacco use and spreading disinformation in the face of research linking tobacco use to cancers and heart disease was from the tobacco companies. Today the fossil fuel industry involves trillions of dollars worldwide. Do you really think they're going to accept the message "the whole world needs to switch to non-combustible fuels" and watch their hundred billion dollar profit cash cow get euthanized without a fight?

    For a good take on it, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZB1YtQtHjE [youtube.com]

    Next you're going to tell us that Venezuela needs US intervention for corruption but Honduras and Ecuador - which are far worse - do not. Hint: Honduras and Ecuador don't have massive oil reserves.