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Estrogen Levels Can Help Detect Lung Cancer

Estrogen Levels Can Help Detect Lung Cancer | Researchers have long known that tobacco smoke is a cause of lung cancer number one. However, recent findings show that estrogen may also play a role on disease.

This is not the first type of cancer associated with estrogen because this hormone is also known to increase breast cancer and other gynecological cancers.

The new research was presented at the Annual Meeting AACR 2012 by the scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

If estrogen levels are high, may indicate that the person is more vulnerable to lung cancer or have a worse prognosis.

"We are confident that levels of toxic metabolites of estrogen can later be useful in predicting risk or prognosis lung cancer in a person," said the researcher.

To investigate, Jing Peng, a partner in the laboratory Margie L. Clapper, PhD, examined the lungs healthy mice and found that the lung contains high levels of estrogen metabolites are known as 4-hydroxy estrogen (4-Ohe) and are carcinogenic.

Specifically, 4-Ohe help enable the process to enhance cell growth and generates free radicals that can damage cells.

When researchers expose tobacco smoke for 8 weeks in mice, researchers found that levels of 4-Ohe have increased.

"We believe that these estrogen metabolites can damage cells and contribute to lung cancer," Clapper said as quoted by Science Daily, Wednesday (04/04/2012).

Female mice have a number of 4-Ohe doubled in the lungs, compared with control male rats after estrogen levels in total performed. However, whether this condition will also occur in humans remains to be investigated.

"When lung cancer is more common for women, the number of passive smokers or non-smoker who developed lung cancer actually occurs more frequently men than women," said Clapper.

In the future, Peng and Clapper hope these results will help researchers develop new therapies that target the estrogen metabolism as a way to treat or prevent lung cancer. [detik.com]