Links between gum disease and cancer

Data collected during a long-term health study provides additional evidence for a link between increased risk of cancer in individuals with advanced gum disease, according to a new collaborative study led by epidemiologists Dominique Michaud at Tufts University School of Medicine and Elizabeth Platz of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Kimmel Cancer Center.

Researchers used data from comprehensive dental exams performed on many participants from Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, and North Carolina, as part of their participation in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study who were then followed from the late 1990s until 2012.

 During the follow-up period, 1,648 new cancer cases were diagnosed. The research team found a 24 percent increase in the risk of developing cancer among participants with severe periodontitis, compared to those with mild to no periodontitis at baseline.

Among patients who had no teeth-which can be a sign of severe periodontitis, the increase in risk was 28 percent. The highest risk was observed in cases of lung cancer, followed by colorectal cancer. When the researchers did sub-group analyses, they found that participants with severe periodontal disease had more than double the risk of developing lung cancer, compared with no periodontitis.

An 80 percent increase in risk of colon cancer observed for participants who were edentulous at baseline, which is consistent with prior findings, and among never smokers, a two-fold higher risk was noted for participants with severe periodontitis, compared to those who had no periodontitis.

The research team accounted for the impact of smoking among the participants, since people who smoke are more likely to get periodontal disease, and smoking raises the risk of lung and colon cancers. Looking at data for the people who had never smoked, they also found evidence that having severe periodontal disease was related to an increased risk of lung cancer and colorectal cancer.

The researchers found no links between increased risk of breast, prostate or blood/lymphatic cancer and periodontitis. The link between periodontitis and increased cancer risk was weaker or not apparent in African-American participants from the ARIC study, except in cases of lung and colorectal cancer. Advanced gum disease-periodontitis, is caused by bacterial infection that damages the soft tissue and bone that support the teeth.
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SHARPIN aids cancer progression

Researchers have found a new role for the SHARPIN protein. In addition to being one of three proteins in the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex (LUBAC), regulating NFκB and other inflammatory molecules, SHARPIN modulates PRMT5, an epigenetic master switch that controls several proteins linked to melanoma.

SHARPIN, is best known for its role in LUBAC, which plays a direct role in inflammatory signaling. However, SHARPIN has a second life, regulating PRMT5, which methylates individual genes and the histones that package DNA, controlling a wide range of gene expression. PRMT5 has been linked to prostate, breast, lung and other cancers.

Using human melanoma cell lines, the researchers found that SHARPIN (but not fellow LUBAC proteins HOIP and HOIL-1L) increases PRMT5 activity, which boosts transcription factors SOX10, PAX3 and MITF, all of which contribute to melanoma growth. The researchers believe SHARPIN fine-tunes PRMT5, affecting how the enzyme methylates certain proteins, but not histones.

SHARPIN serves as a navigator, showing PRMT5 where to go and thus which proteins to methylate.
SHARPIN becomes important in tumors that have lost proteins CDKN2A and MTAP, which are co-deleted in around 15 percent of all cancers. When MTAP is deleted, PRMT5 activity is reduced. However, in those cases SHARPIN acts as a counterbalance, boosting PRMT5. Epidemiological data show that patients whose tumors lack MTAP, and have elevated levels of SHARPIN, have poorer prognosis.
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Sleeping less than five hours increases risk of prostate cancer

According to scientists, sleeping less than five hours a night may increase the risk of developing prostate cancer.

Men above 65 years that are not sleeping up to seven hours recommended by National Sleep Foundation are at risk of developing terminal diseases.

American Cancer Society in Atlanta examined data from two long-term studies. The first study followed more than 407,000 men between 1950 and 1972, the second followed 416,000 men from 1982 to 2012.

All the men were cancer free at the beginning of the study, more than 1,500 men in first study and more than 8,700 men in second study died of prostate cancer when checked out later.

Not sleeping very well turned off genes that protect cancer growth and prevent production of melatonin. According to Dr Gapstur, reduced melatonin can accelerate genetic mutations, reduced DNA repair and weakened immune system.

Time zones may increase your risk of cancer

A new study suggests the effects of time zones can contribute to development of some cancers that are linked to change in biological clock.

Researchers examined data of 4 million adults from more than 600 countries who had been diagnosed with cancer between 2000 and 2012

They discovered that every 5 degree of longitude toward the west that a person lived from the eastern edge of their time zone increased risk of developing cancer.

Researchers said men who lived in the western-most region of a time zone had risk of developing prostate cancer, compared with men that lived in eastern-most regions of time zone.

They found that women living in the western-most region had risk of developing breast cancer compared to women living in eastern-most regions of time zone.

Normally, living things are supposed to be exposed to sun during the day and darkness at night but people stay indoor during the day and exposed to light at night, this can reduce melatonin at night, alter immune system and raise risk of developing cancer.

Antidepressants and prostrate cancer

Prostate cancer is the growth of cancer in the prostate, it may grow slowly or very fast and it can spread to other parts of the body particularly the bones and lymph.

These factors increase the risk of prostate cancer:
• Family history of the disease
• Old age
• Diet high in processed meat and milk

Prostate cancer is common among men and it's the third leading cause of cancer death.

Antidepressants are drugs used for the treatment of major depressive disorder and other conditions.

Scientists believe antidepressants could prevent spreading of cancer to the bone based on latest research.