Antioxidants Might Actually Make Cancer Worse

antioxidant have made a hazard for the dietary supplement industry , but how many mass really cognize what they are and why they ’re supposedly expert for you ? One common claim is that the these moleculescan protect youfrom Crab . This is purportedly because they can counteract other molecules known as “ responsive oxygen coinage ” or “ gratis radicals ” that can be create in our cells and then damage DNA , potentially leave to Crab .

But cells sire many different types and levels of free radicals . For deterrent example , someare used by the immune systemto attack pathogens . Therefore we do n’t fully understand the benefits and dangers of wiping destitute stem out with antioxidants . If we remove all detached radicals we may be preclude their good actions . This may be why there ’s small strong evidence that antioxidants actually reduce the hazard of cancer or help to treat the disease . In fact , somelarge clinical trialsshow the opposite .

My confrere at King ’s College London and I recentlypublished researchin the Journal of the National Cancer Institute highlighting that free radical are not just damaging federal agent . Our workadds to thegrowing evidencethat antioxidant supplement can , in some circumstances , domore harmthan trade good .

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Shaping cancer cells

Back in 2008 , we showed that melanoma cells – the most serious form of skin cancer – - can change their shape depend on the sum of two key opponent molecules forebode Rac and Rho that function like a switch . If there ’s more Rac and less Rho , the electric cell become tenacious and spindly . With more Rho and less Rac , the cell become debauchee . More of late , we chance that this rounding error process allows cancer cells to travel more freely and pass around around the body more easily .

To incur out how Rac and Rho are involve in destitute radicals ’ effects on genus Cancer , we spring up melanoma cells in the research lab and treated them with a battery of antioxidants to get rid of the reactive oxygen species . As a result the electric cell became more rounded and move faster , make them more likely to circulate .

But if we used drugs to stamp down the Rho signals and boost the Rac , the amount of free radicals increase and the cell became longer and slower . We also catch that the increment in free radicals switched on certain genes in the electric cell , such as p53 , which can protect us against Crab but disappears as cancers become more strong-growing , and PIG3 , which helps withDNA repair . Unexpectedly , we found that the PIG3 further suppressed Rho bodily function .

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We confirmed this by looking at shiner with tegument neoplasm . The fauna were more likely to survive if the cancer cells had higher floor of PIG3 , linked to the increase in spare radicals . These tumours grew more slow and Crab cells did n’t spread as much .

By contrast , we found that human patient role that had low levels of PIG3 had cancer cells that were much more likely to be assail and linked to faster travel around the body . At the same time , Crab patients’genetic recordsshowed us that individuals whose melanoma spread had low sum of money of PIG3 but high levels of proteins check by Rho .

So in myopic , using drugs to reduce Rho and increase Rac produced an increase in free radicals and therefore PIG3 , reducing the chances that the cancer cells would distribute . This contrasts strongly with the idea that antioxidants , which reduce free radicals , can assist treat the disease .

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Caution for antioxidants

Most of our work was carried out in lab - grown melanoma cells , so there ’s still more work to be done to show whether the drug that inhibit Rho signal could stop malignant melanoma spreading in patients . But the same drug are being tested in clinical trials for other diseases , such as glaucoma , mellow blood insistence and center disease , so we know they are safe to habituate in patients . Our research adds to thegrowing evidencethat indicates this family of drug could work to slow up down the facing pages of skin Crab .

Other studiesindicate antioxidant canincrease the riskof malignant neoplastic disease andaccelerate its progression . High dosage of antioxidantscould also interferewith some cancer treatments , such as chemotherapy , that rely on loose chemical group to damage and eventually kill the Crab cell .

While our upshot do n’t test that antioxidant are harmful for sizeable mobile phone , they sound an of import note of carefulness about the use of antioxidants in patient that have already developed genus Cancer . More employment is needed to in full sympathize the benefits and drawbacks of taking antioxidant supplements . And we need to discover a room to conquer the “ bad ” gratis root word and permit the “ unspoiled ” ones to do their work .

Photo: Jae C. Hong