Study finds how nicotine promotes spread of lung cancer to brain
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Up to 40% of lung cancer patients develop brain metastasis, and the median survival of these patients remains less than 6 months. Smoking is associated with lung cancer. However, how smoking impacts the development of brain metastasis remains elusive
Now scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine have found that nicotine, a non-carcinogenic chemical found in tobacco, actually promotes the spread, or metastasis, of lung cancer cells into the brain.
"Based on our findings, we don't think that nicotine replacement products are the safest way for people with lung cancer to stop smoking," said Kounosuke Watabe, Ph.D., professor of cancer biology at Wake Forest School of Medicine and lead author of the study.
In the study, published in the June 4 edition of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Watabe's team first examined 281 lung cancer patients and found that cigarette smokers exhibited a significantly higher incidence of brain cancer.
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