More on the Inverse Relationship Between Cancers and Neurodegenerative Conditions

Cancer and Alzheimer's disease appear to be inversely related. If you have cancer your odds of Alzheimer's are lower, and vice versa. Since the lifestyle risk factors for both are essentially the same, this is an interesting finding, to say the least. Researchers are digging into the biochemical mechanisms that might explain this state of affairs:

There is epidemiological evidence that patients with certain Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders have a lower than expected probability of developing some types of Cancer. We tested here the hypothesis that this inverse comorbidity is driven by molecular processes common to CNS disorders and Cancers, and that are deregulated in opposite directions.

We conducted transcriptomic meta-analyses of three CNS disorders (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Schizophrenia) and three Cancer types (Lung, Prostate, Colorectal) previously described with inverse comorbidities. A significant overlap was observed between the genes upregulated in CNS disorders and downregulated in Cancers, as well as between the genes downregulated in CNS disorders and upregulated in Cancers. We also observed expression deregulations in opposite directions at the level of pathways.

Our analysis points to specific genes and pathways, the upregulation of which could increase the incidence of CNS disorders and simultaneously lower the risk of developing Cancer, while the downregulation of another set of genes and pathways could contribute to a decrease in the incidence of CNS disorders while increasing the Cancer risk. These results reinforce the previously proposed involvement of the PIN1 gene, Wnt and P53 pathways, and reveal potential new candidates, in particular related with protein degradation processes.

Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1004173

Comments

This is very interesting to me, I have had a grandmother and great-grand mother both die from dementia, however not a single blood relative has ever had cancer - even cousins and uncles etc.

Posted by: Evan at February 27th, 2014 9:23 AM
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