Malignant cells can't tolerate cigarette smoke
Last reviewed: 07.06.2024
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It is no secret that tobacco smoke causes mutational changes in DNA, which can subsequently lead to the development of malignant tumors, and not only in the respiratory system. However, mutations are not the only problem: the harmful effects of smoking also include the sticking together of protein molecules.
All protein substances have the property of spatial folding and transformation into a certain three-dimensional structure, which determines their functionality. However, when the process of folding is disturbed, protein molecules lose their functionality, stick together, forming peculiar "clumps" unfavorable for the cell. As such "clumps" accumulate, the cell's work becomes more and more complicated: it does not have time to process the unnecessary "garbage", although it is no less problematic for it to exist together with it.
In most cases, toxic protein "clumps" are mentioned when it comes to neurodegenerative pathologies - in particular, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's diseases. However, this phenomenon is also characteristic of pulmonary emphysema, chronic pulmonary obstruction, and lung cancer.
Cigarette smoke contains components that disrupt the sequence of protein molecules. Such components harm both normal and malignant structures, although the latter actively resist it. These processes have been described in detail by scientists representing the University of Pennsylvania.
The experts grew normal and malignant cells separately on appropriate media, to which they added vapor from tobacco smoke. The malignant cells showed fewer aggregates of proteins than normal structures, and the malignant cells continued their active division. They were able to develop on their own, even when the amount of vapor was increased by 10 times: normal cells in such conditions stopped multiplying and died.
In the course of further studies, scientists found that as a defense, cancerous structures use a specific transport protein encased in the cell membrane and working like a pump, pumping out of the cell all the unnecessary "garbage". In particular, it turned out that such a "pump" gets rid of malignant cells from those components of smoke that lead to the clumping of molecules into garbage "clumps". In normal cells such processes took place, but much less actively.
Pomps of the specific ABCG2 transport protein are capable of "pumping" a variety of components and drugs out of cellular structures. Statistics show that smokers have a significantly reduced effectiveness of antitumor treatment. This is most likely due to the stimulation of molecular pump function by tobacco smoke: as a result, everything unnecessary, including anticancer drugs, is pumped out of cancer cells.
This situation can be solved by using some means that inhibit the work of transport proteins.
Details of the study are described on the PLOS Journal's page.