But that’s not all, as it turns out it works both ways, i.e. people with Alzheimer’s disease are less likely to suffer from cancer. This was already noticed by Jane Driver in a study from 2012, and confirmed by studies conducted in Italy and South Korea. They show that patients with Alzheimer’s disease have a 37% lower risk of less likely to develop cancer compared to people without dementia. And while the results are again drawing skepticism – critics say people with dementia are less likely to be screened for cancer because of the limited benefits of the treatment – scientists are trying to understand the biology behind the phenomenon.
Some researchers suggest that cancer treatment itself may influence the risk of dementia. in recent years, for example, evidence has emerged that inflammation plays a central role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, so it is possible that chemotherapy suppresses it, thereby protecting neurons.
However, Elio Riboli goes a step further, because in his opinion the fact that the relationship is two-way suggests the existence of biological mechanisms that influence both groups of diseases in different ways. He explains that by analyzing hundreds of genes, he identified a genetic profile that predicts an increased risk of cancer and discovered that this profile is associated with a lower risk of dementia, and that growth factors, a large family of molecules that regulate tissue renewal and growth, play an important role here.
Unraveling this relationship between cancer and neurodegenerative diseases may help treat or prevent these common conditions, although that won’t happen anytime soon. The researchers openly admit that these findings have no practical application at this time, although “they may provide a bit of comfort to cancer survivors – the knowledge that something may be easier for them in the future.”
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Source: geekweek.interia.pl
