"Nicotine influences a key cancer pathway in cells, which may explain how it speeds up cancer growth, says a new study. The researchers believe their results may help in the design of better anti-cancer drugs.
"We believe that these components can be targeted for cancer therapy," says Srikumar Chellappan of the University of South Florida, in Tampa, US, who led the study. "So we are quite excited about the new therapeutic avenues this study has revealed."
Rather than initiate cancer, nicotine seems to make existing cancers more aggressive, he says. Previous studies have found, for example, that breast cancer is more likely to spread to the lungs of patients who smoke than those who do not. And blocking the receptors for nicotine on the surface of aggressive cancer cells in a laboratory dish halts their growth (see Nicotine speeds the growth of lung cancers).
Cigarette smoking can nevertheless trigger the development of cancer, stresses Chellappan. By-products of nicotine and other compounds are to blame, though, rather than nicotine itself.
One pack a day
Although it was known that nicotine makes cancers more aggressive, relatively little is known about how it has this effect. To explore this question Chellappan and his colleagues looked at the specific molecules in cancer cells that interact with nicotine.
They exposed human lung cancer cells to an amount of nicotine equivalent to that present in the bloodstream of a person who smokes one pack of cigarettes a day. This stimulated the cells to replicate. A closer look revealed that nicotine caused a molecule called Raf-1 to bind to a key protein called Rb, which normally suppresses tumours.
This interference with the Rb protein's function could make the cancer spread faster, says Chellappan. Eight out of ten tumours examined by his group had abnormally high Raf-1 and Rb interactions, a finding that lends further support to this idea.
"One area of active research in our laboratory is to identify agents that can prevent the binding of Raf-1 and Rb," says Chellappan, adding that such drugs "could have potent anti-cancer activities".
[Acknowledgement: Newscientist]
Well, although a drug that may perform anti-cancer activities is under research..It'll still take quite a long time to be produced and trialled. That is why, every smoker should quit smoking. Every non-smoker should not smoke. Cigarettes should be banned while nicorette gums encouraged. This is also for the benefit of non-smokers because second hand smoke is potentially more dangerous than first hand. Smoking in public also affects many different people like pregnant women, the elderly and young children. They are innocent especially an unborn child. Therefore, one should always think before smoking. It not only affects you in the future but the people around you...at a faster rate than you think. If one cannot quit, he/she should always think about everyone that he/she cares about and after some time, of distractions and much nicorette gums, I'm sure a better life awaits. Smoking is bad for health so quit before it's too late; hesitate before addiction awaits.
A closer look revealed that nicotine caused a molecule called Raf-1 to bind to a key protein called Rb, which normally suppresses tumours.
This interference with the Rb protein's function could make the cancer spread faster
