Antioxidants may encourage the spread of lung cancer rather than prevent it
Newly discovered mechanisms that drive metastasis could be thwarted by existing drugs
Antioxidants, once touted as a cancer preventive, may actually spur the disease’s spread. Now scientists have figured out how.
Whether taken as a dietary supplement or produced by the body, antioxidants appear to help lung cancer cells invade tissues beyond the chest cavity, two studies report online June 27 in Cell. Experiments in mice and human tissue revealed that antioxidants both safeguard tumors against cell-damaging molecules and prompt the accumulation of the protein Bach1. As Bach1 piles up, tumors burn through glucose at higher rates, thus fueling the cancer cells’ migration to new organs (SN: 1/9/16, p. 13).