cancer susceptibility tagged posts

How Air Pollution Alters Lung Tissue, increasing Cancer Susceptibility

Inhaled fine particulate matter (shown here in red) pulls strings of collagen to disturb the immune defence in mice with lung cancer cells. This activity delays the movement of cytotoxic T-cells (purple) as they migrate towards the cancer cells (green) to destroy them. Image credit: Wang et al. 

Scientists have identified a mechanism that explains how fine air pollution particles might cause lung cancer, according to a study published today in eLife.

The findings could lead to new approaches for preventing or treating the initial lung changes that lead to the disease.

Tiny, inhalable fine particulate matter (FPM) found in air pollutants has been recognised as a Group 1 carcinogen and a substantial threat to global health...

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Intestines Modify their Cellular Structure in Response to Diet

This is a fruit fly. Credit: Carnegie Institution for Science

This is a fruit fly.
Credit: Carnegie Institution for Science

Body organs such as the intestine and ovaries undergo structural changes in response to dietary nutrients that can have lasting impacts on metabolism, as well as cancer susceptibility, according to Carnegie’s Rebecca Obniski, Matthew Sieber, and Allan Spradling. Their work, published by Developmental Cell, used fruit flies, which are currently the most-sensitive experimental system for such detecting diet-induced cellular changes that are likely to be similar in mammals.

There are 3 major types of cells in fruit fly (and mammalian) intestines: Stem cells, hormone-producing cells, and nutrient-handling cells...

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