High estrogen linked to lung cancer
By Nathan Seppa
From San Francisco, at the 91st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research
Women seem more susceptible than men to the carcinogenic effects of tobacco smoke, research has indicated. New findings suggest that estrogen may also play a role.
When estrogen is present, some cells produce a protein on their surfaces called an estrogen receptor. The hormone can then bind to these cells and spur cell proliferation. Pharmacologist Jill M. Siegfried of the University of Pittsburgh found evidence of estrogen receptors in all five kinds of tumors from patients with non-small-cell lung cancer, the most common variety of lung cancer. Healthy lung cells rarely show estrogen receptors.