eMedicineLive

Certain types of cancer like those of stomach, liver and colon are far more common in men as compared to women. A rich diet and lifestyle habits like smoking and drinking which are more common in men were usually held responsible for this gender bias. However, a study has found that it is the hormones present in the females that give them some degree of protection against these cancers. The new study from MIT which has been published online in the journal Cancer Prevention Research has found that the female hormone estrogen can reduce the incidence of stomach cancer. 

 

Gastric cancer is the second most common cancer and is often caused because of an infection by Helicobacter pylori. The H. pylori bacteria lead to chronic inflammation of the gastric mucosa which is conducive to the development of stomach cancer. The researchers of MIT found that treating male mice with estrogen lowered their chances of developing stomach cancer, especially the cancers produced as a result of chronic inflammation by H. pylori.

 

James Fox, MIT professor of biological engineering and a senior author of the study found that female mice that had their ovaries surgically removed were more prone to develop stomach cancer. The researchers also genetically engineered male mice that produced a large amount of "gastrin", a hormone which promotes acid production and proliferation of cells of the gastric mucosa. In the normal course, such mice develop stomach cancer within 20 months. However, Fox and his team injected estrogen to these mice soon after their birth. The estrogen was found to prevent the development of gastritis and precancerous gastric lesions.

 

The view that estrogen can indeed protect against stomach cancer is further strengthened by observing the fact that women with a delayed menopause and increased fertility have a lower rate of stomach cancer. Similarly, women treated with Tamoxifen, an estrogen blocker are at an increased risk of developing stomach cancer. This has lead the researchers to believe that finding drugs that exhibit properties similar to the cancer suppressing properties of estrogen could prove a milestone in the treatment of stomach cancer.

 

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