Vitamin C and E may accelerate the growth of lung cancer

A study on mice suggests that taking antioxidant supplements such as vitamin C and vitamin E may stimulate angiogenesis within tumors, leading to the growth and spread of lung cancer. Researchers emphasize that cancer patients do not need to avoid these antioxidants in their diet, but consuming excessive amounts of antioxidants through supplements may cause harm. On August 31st, the relevant results were published in the Journal of Clinical Research.

Martin Berg's team at Karolinska Institute in Sweden previously found that supplementing with antioxidants vitamin E and N-acetylcysteine can cause lung cancer to spread in mice.

To better understand how this happened, Martin Berger and colleagues studied mice with mouse specific lung cancer and mice implanted with human lung cancer cells. They supplemented the mice with naturally occurring vitamin C in their drinking water, as well as vitamin E and N-acetylcysteine obtained from their diet.

As the dosage of supplements increases, the levels of antioxidants in mice gradually exceed the necessary levels. In today's society, many people eat very healthily and also consume some supplements, "Martin Berger said." If you do this, you may eventually reach the dosage level we are talking about

Researchers have found that the higher the dose of antioxidants given to mice, the faster the rate of tumor angiogenesis. This is true for both mice with mouse specific lung cancer and mice implanted with human lung cancer cells. Martin Berger said that accelerated vascular growth may lead to the growth and spread of tumors. However, researchers did not conduct further research on this.

Martin Berger emphasized that people with any type of cancer should not change their diet because of this study. He said, "If all the antioxidants in food are taken away, you will get sick for a series of reasons, such as vitamin deficiency, which will affect cancer treatment

In another part of the experiment, researchers studied lung cancer tumor organs in humans and mice, namely cell spheres grown in the laboratory. After exposing them to three antioxidants at doses higher than necessary, researchers found that these antioxidants neutralized so-called free radicals within the organoids.

In previous research, Martin Berger's team believed that after supplementing with vitamin E and N-acetylcysteine, a protein called BACH1 promotes tumor growth. The latest research shows that when the level of free radicals decreases, BACH1 is activated, which induces angiogenesis.

Martin Berger said that with further research, these findings may point to a new approach for treating certain cancers. He said that vascular growth inhibitors are widely used in cancer treatment, but may have serious side effects such as blood clots. They may be more effective for people with higher levels of BACH1 in tumors, which could be due to taking excessive supplements or genetic mutations.

These experiments all involved lung cancer tumors, and researchers also searched for other types of cancers in genomic databases that may also increase BACH1 levels. They found that BACH1 levels are usually particularly high in kidney and breast tumors.