Findings shed light on how ethanol promotes cancer progression

Ethanol seems to promote cancer progression by inducing angiogenesis and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, according to a report in the January 15th issue of Cancer.

The findings are based on tests conducted in chick embryos harboring human fibrosarcoma cells. Some of the embryos were exposed to ethanol, while control embryos were exposed to saline.Ethanol exposure for 9 days more than doubled the tumor volume and intratumoral vascular volume density compared with saline exposure, lead author Dr. Jian-Wei Gu and colleagues, from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, note. In addition, ethanol treatment significantly increased VEGF mRNA and protein expression in the tumors.Further testing showed that ethanol increased the proliferation of endothelial cells, but not tumor cells themselves, the researchers note.”Although mounting epidemiologic evidence has indicated that alcoholic beverage consumption is a well established risk factor for human malignancies, experimental studies have provided less than convincing evidence to support the positive ethanol-cancer correlation,” the investigators point out.”To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to show in vivo evidence that ethanol administration caused a significant increase in tumor size, intratumoral vascular volume density, and intravasation by tumor cells, which was associated with the up-regulation of VEGF expression,” they add.(Source: Cancer 2004;103: Reuters Health: Oncolink: December 2004.)