Continuous use of sugar can lead to cancer
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Recent research has revealed the relationship between the use of glucose and the appearance of certain types of cancer tumors.
This discovery may be useful not only for the prevention of cancer, but also for the creation of new anti-cancer drugs that could block the entry of glucose into the cells.
The study was conducted on the basis of the University of Texas in Dallas.
Despite the fact that a large number of studies of the causes of oncological diseases are carried out every year in the world, cancer is still considered the main issue in scientific medicine. Five years ago, more than 14 million patients with cancerous tumors were recorded in the world, more than half of them died. According to forecasts, in ten years such indicators can increase by more than 1.5 times.
The scientists carried out a comparative analysis of 33 varieties of oncological pathologies, according to the Atlas of the Cancer Genome. As a result, an interesting regularity was discovered. In people with non-small cell lung cancer, a high level of proteins responsible for the entry of glucose into the cellular structures was diagnosed.
"Many years ago, scientists voiced the theory that the malignancy of cells can depend on the constant intake of glucose in them, because cancer cells need a huge amount of energy for the normal course of development and reproduction processes. However, we have found that a particular type of cancer, namely non - small cell lung cancer, in particular, has a dependence on the presence of sugar in the blood, "indicate the biological scientists who led the study.
The protein, which we spoke about above, can transfer molecular glucose into cells, so that it can later be used as an energy source. The name for this protein is GLUT1.
"The study has almost been completed, but it still seemed to us that the metabolic features of non-small cell cancer and adenocarcinoma have much in common. But, in fact, everything turned out to be much more complicated. We conducted experiments using different planes. As a result, we were able to confirm that such a tumor as adenocarcinoma is not so demanding for the presence of glucose. Different malignant processes are differently dependent on the circulation of sugars in the blood, and this information should be used in the prevention and treatment of cancer, "the study authors state.
In the course of the experiments, the specialists tried to influence the non-small cell lung tumor in the lungs with the inhibitor drug GLUT1, the purpose of which was the violation of sugar transport into cells. Under the influence of such a drug, the non-small cell carcinoma actually "contracted" and decreased in the near future. However, this treatment did not affect adenocarcinoma in any way.
In the immediate plans of scientists - to create the newest drugs for the treatment of cancerous processes - at least, non-small cell lung cancer. By the way, such work is already underway.
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