Antioxidants – known to decrease oxidative stress and inflammation also have a role in cancer prevention. Making sure that we have them in plenty can improve the functioning of “BRCA 1”, a gene known to prevent breast cancer. The scientists involved in a study published recently in Cell Cycle show this:
‘In summary, loss of BRCA1 function leads to hydrogen peroxide generation in both epithelial breast cancer cells and neighboring stromal fibroblasts, and promotes the onset of a reactive glycolytic stroma, with increased MCT4 and decreased Cav-1 expression. Importantly, these metabolic changes can be reversed by antioxidants, which potently induce cancer cell death. Thus, antioxidant therapy appears to be synthetically lethal with a BRCA1-deficiency in breast cancer cells and should be considered for future cancer prevention trials.’
Article abstract:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23172369