Nicotine in Cigarettes Can Trigger Breast Cancer
Jeniffer Winget | Aug 25, 2010 | Comments 0
According to the new research, nicotine, primary and additive components of cigarettes, can trigger breast cancer.
Normal cigarettes are packed with at least 60 cancer-causing compounds and that includes carbon monoxide, tar, and arsenic, but until now the primary ingredient of the cigarette, which is nicotine, had not been on the list, Daily Mail reported.
The Taipei Medical University research team led by Dr Yuan-Soon Ho methodically analyzed 276 breast tumor samples from various breast cancer patients to the Taipei Medical University Hospital to see whether subunits of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor were overexpressed in breast cancer cells compared with surrounding normal cells.
The Taiwanese research team discovered that when normal breast cells were treated with nicotine in the lab it promoted the development of cancer characteristics.
“These results imply that receptor-mediated carcinogenic signals play a decisive role in biological functions related to human breast cancer development,” the authors write.
Experts believe that these findings could be a major blow to makers of nicotine-based products that help people to quit smoking, as well as provide a negative impact on companies that produce nicotine gum, patches, and electronic cigarettes that are promoted as a ‘healthy alternative’ for smokers.
The complete study can be found at The Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
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Filed Under: Featured News • Health
