Drinking 'fuels growth of tumour'

"Drinking 'fuels growth of tumour'", BBC News, May 1, 2007,
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6611009.stm

Drinking just two alcoholic drinks a day when you have breast cancer
fuels the growth of tumours, a study says.

It has long-been known alcohol increases the risk of developing cancer
but the effect of drinking once cancer is present is less established.

A University of Mississippi team found giving mice the equivalent of
two to four drinks a day doubled the normal growth of a tumour after
four weeks.

Cancer patients are often just told to moderate drinking.

In the study, researchers gave female mice the human equivalent of two
drinks a day for four weeks, while a control group were given no
alcohol.

The mice were then injected with breast cancer cells.

Within four weeks, the tumours in the alcohol-fed mice weighed 1.4g on
average, almost twice the size of tumours in the control group.

The team, which presented the research to the American Physiology
Society, said alcohol caused cancer cells' blood vessels to grow which
in turn fuelled the growth of the tumour.

The mouse study builds on an earlier research with chicks that showed
alcohol consumption increased the expression of a protein known as
VEGF.

VEGF fuels tumour growth by spurring the development of blood vessels
in cancer cells that might otherwise die.

Normally, the immune system can kill off small tumours. However, when
they grow large enough the body can no longer fight off the tumour
cells.

Tumours

Lead researcher Jian-Wei Gu said: "The vast majority of tumours result
from over expressed VEGF.

"Every day, we produce a lot of cancer cells, but they don't become
bigger.

"But if the cells establish blood vessels, the tumour grows and
strengthens, a process known as angiogenesis."

And he added he would advise patients not to drink if they were
undergoing cancer treatment.

"I don't think two to four drinks per day is okay.

"The public needs to know of these results."

Ed Yong, Cancer Research UK's science information officer, said: "The
link between alcohol and breast cancer, and many other cancers for
that matter, is well known.

"But this is the first time I have heard of the impact of alcohol once
cancer is there."

He said more research was needed to see if the findings were
replicated in adults and whether it also applied to other cancers.