Alcohol and cancer – a dangerous connection
The relationship between alcohol consumption and the occurrence and metastasis of malignant tumors has been identified for a long time, but the underlying mechanisms have been unclear for a long time. Scientists from Rush University Medical Center (Chicago, Illinois), working under the guidance of Dr. Christopher Forsyth, have deciphered the cellular mechanism that explains this relationship.
As part of the study, the results of which are published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Research in the article "Alcohol Stimulates Activation of Snail, Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Signaling, and Biomarkers of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Colon and Breast Cancer Cells", scientists have demonstrated that alcohol stimulates the so-called epithelial-mesenchymal transformation. As a result, ordinary cancer cells degenerate into a more aggressive form and begin to spread throughout the body. This leads to the formation of metastases or secondary tumors that are more malignant than the primary tumor and are usually the cause of death of patients after removal of the primary tumor.
Epithelial-mesenchymal transformation, especially its involvement in tumor metastasis, is currently a very popular object of study. The results of a large number of laboratory and clinical studies indicate that this phenomenon plays a key role in increasing the aggressiveness of cancer cells.
The researchers exposed colon and breast cancer cell lines with ethyl alcohol, after which they analyzed the biochemical signs of triggering the mechanism of epithelial-mesenchymal transformation, including the activity of the Snail transcription factor and the receptor for epidermal growth factor. Snail regulates the process of epithelial-mesenchymal transformation. Experiments on mice have shown that its overexpression leads to the formation of multiple tumors. And a high level of epidermal growth factor, in turn, is necessary for the vital activity of cells of many types of cancer.
Laboratory tests have shown that ethyl alcohol activates these and other compounds involved in epithelial-mesenchymal transformation. It also turned out that treatment with ethyl alcohol weakens intercellular interactions, which promotes cell separation and migration.
In addition, the authors found that alcohol has a similar effect on normal intestinal cells from a biochemical point of view. This indicates that alcohol can not only increase the aggressiveness of tumors already existing in the body, but also initiate the appearance of malignant neoplasms by stimulating epithelial-mesenchymal transformation.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru According to Science Daily: Link Between Alcohol And Cancer Explained: Alcohol Activates Cellular Changes That Make Tumor Cells Spread.
05.11.2009