If your waistline is expanding it could be a reason to worry as scientists of US have found a link between expanding waistlines and certain cancers. The scientists are of the opinion that excess fat is an important factor in the factor in the development of the disease.
Mikhail Kolonin, senior study author and associate professor of Regenerative Medicine at the Brown Foundation Institute, University of Texas recognized diet as an important factor and added that the direct effect of excess fat tissue on tumours has to be considered.
"For the first time, we have demonstrated that excess fat is a key factor in cancer progression regardless of the diet contributing to the extra weight," the journal Cancer Research reports has quoted Kolonin as saying.
According to the World Health Organisation reports, in 2008, there were more than 1.4 billion obese adults worldwide, with 7.6 million succumbing to cancer that year, say a Texas statement.
A signal emitted by cancer attracts progenitor cells from white adipose (fat) tissue in mouse models of cancer. These cells in turn support the network of blood vessels that nourish tumours - a process called tumour angiogenesis.
Like a stem cell, a progenitor cell too has an ability to differentiate into a specific type of cell. Stem cells can replicate indefinitely, but progenitor cells can divide for only to restricted extent.
"Our experiments show that fat progenitors are recruited by tumours, where they incorporate into blood vessels and become fat cells," Yan Zhang, who led the study as research scientist at the UT Health Medical School has been quoted saying. .
"The next step in this research would be to inactivate fat progenitor cells in an effort to slow cancer progression," Kolonin added.
--With inputs from IANS
|
|
Comments:
