Cancer Tumor Growth
may be increased by Drinking 2 – 4 Alcoholic Drinks Daily
April 4th, 2006
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Glass of Wine |
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A recent study from the University of Mississippi found that alcohol
consumption can help in the growth of tumors by stimulating vascular
endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
VEGF is a necessary substance that the body needs, but when there is too
much it can be harmful. The researchers in this study used mice to
investigate how alcohol consumption in mammals would help in the growth
of tumors. Future research may help in finding ways to slow down the
production of VEGF.
The research study was first presented by Wei Tan, Megan Shparago,
Amelia P. Bailey and Jian-Wei Gu of the University of Mississippi
Medical Center at the Experimental Biology Conference 2006 which was
from April 1-5 in San Francisco.
The researchers used the equivalent amount of 2 – 4 glasses of alcohol
per day that a human would drink and sized it down for mice to drink
every day. Other studies have used high consumption of alcohol, but in
this study the researchers used moderate alcohol consumption.
The researchers had put 1% alcohol in the drinking water of six male
mice for eight hours each night over four weeks. The researchers had a
control group of six mice that drank regular water. The researchers
injected all the mice with melanoma cancer at the beginning of the
study.
At the end of the four week period the mice that had consumed the
alcohol were twice as heavy compared to the mice that only drank water.
The alcohol drinking mice also had a dramatic increase in new
micro-vessels and were almost twice as dense with blood vessels compared
to the regular water drinking mice. The alcohol drinking mice also had
a significant increase in VEGF.
Alcohol has been previously linked to an increase in developing cancer.
This research study looked at why alcohol consumption causes cancer.
The researchers found that the mice in this study had an increase in the
protein called VEGF. The VEGF helps to promote tumor growth by increase
blood vessels in cancer cells. The researchers believe that if the VEGF
is limited the cancer cells might have died sooner.
VEGF is a naturally occurring protein that the body needs. It is used
to help organ tissues grow. At the same time if the body’s immune
system has tumor cells that grow too large it is not able to kill them
off and VEGF helps the tumors growth by developing blood vessels. If
the tumors would remain small enough the body would be able to kill the
cancer cells.
When alcohol is consumed it enters into cells. In an attempt for the
cell to get rid of the alcohol the cell increases its metabolic
activity. The cells require more oxygen during this process, but often
deplete the oxygen supply in the process of trying to break down the
alcohol. This triggers the VEGF to create more blood vessels to help
deliver the oxygen, but at the same time can help in the growth of
tumors.
The researchers have not determined a safe level for alcohol consumption
in this study; they suggest that you should have caution in drinking on
a daily basis. Gu said, "If you have risk for any kind of cancer, don't
drink at all. I don't think 2-4 drinks per day is okay."
Nicole Wilson
Best SyndicationBooks on Cancer
Keywords and misspellings: alchohol consumption health
risks canser kancer tumour tumer toomer growth cancer risk and
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