Mayo
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 Posted: 04/03/06 - 22:29 Post subject: Nicotine can cripple chemotherapy in lung cancer patients |
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Preliminary research suggests that nicotine, no matter if it comes in a patch or gum, can cripple chemotherapy in lung cancer patients. The researchers only looked at the sampling of human cells in the laboratory and they have no clue if nicotine could potentially derail chemotherapy for other types of cancer.
Although nicotine is a major player in making tobacco addictive, it is still unclear what is his role in causing cancer as the other substances that make up tobacco smoke are considered to be more dangerous than nicotine itself.
In the newest study, the researchers tested the effect of nicotine on lung cancer cells exposed to three types of chemotherapy drugs -- gemcitabine, cisplatin and taxol. They discovered that the level of nicotine found in a typical smoker was enough to disrupt the chemotherapy drugs’ ability to kill off the cancer cells.
According to one of the researchers, Chellappan, nicotine appears to boost the levels of two proteins that protect cancer cells and said there should be human studies to finally establish that this is a major red flag.
However, the sad true is that the people would actually continue to smoke while they are undergoing treatment for cancer, especially the ones who are told told they have cancer that's not really curable. |
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