Today, February 4, is World Cancer Day.
This day was instituted in the year 2000 in the city of Paris, the framework of the world summit against cancer for the new millennium.
During that event, the Paris Charter was drafted, which proposed as fundamental objectives research and prevention of cancer, improving patient care, increasing awareness and mobilizing the community to make progress against this disease.
According to the event’s official website (https://www.worldcancerday.org/es), nearly 10 million people died of cancer in 2020.
This figure exceeded deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
By 2040, experts estimate that the number of cancer deaths will rise to 16.5 million if appropriate interventions are not carried out.

In today’s article we will deal with three relevant developments about cancer research that is taking place in the world and in Spain, which are worth highlighting.

Gut microbiota and colon cancer

In several previous articles we have mentioned the importance of the gut microbiota and how its components, which were ignored for a long time, today take on an unusual prominence.
Science is once again keeping an eye on this set of microorganisms with which we live.
New research suggests that adding a single bacterium may be decisive for the therapeutic success of colon cancer.

The microbiota has been the great revelation of recent years, with extraordinary potential for addressing a multitude of diseases and as a strategic ally of our physical and mental well-being.
Interactions with the immune system occur mainly through the antigenicity of its own components and metabolites produced by breaking down nutrients in food. The regulation of gut microecology and the restoration of immune function have been seen as key points for the treatment of immune diseases and also to give a new direction for the treatment of tumors. The gut microbiota affects the efficiency of cancer drugs through several key mechanisms: metabolism, immune regulation, translocation, enzymatic degradation, and ecological variation.

Gut microbiota provides good prospects for colon cancer

Colon and rectal cancer is among the most diagnosed tumours in Spain in recent years.
In turn, colorectal cancer is the second in terms of deaths.

A group of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh has found that by introducing a colony of Helicobacter hepaticus, a very common bacterium in the intestinal microbiota, the immune system would be strengthened to fight cancer cells.
Thus, antitumor immunity could be improved by modulating the composition of bacterial populations in the colon.
To test this hypothesis, the researchers colonized the gut of an experimental mouse model of colon cancer with Helicobacter hepaticus with the goal of inducing a strong immune response.
The result of this study was that the addition of this bacterium significantly reduced the number and size of tumors and increased the life expectancy of the animals. In addition, they observed increased infiltration of immune cells (T, B, and NK) into the tumor and the formation of structures that create a favorable environment for immune cell maturation. https://doi.org/10.1111/imm.13397

Physical Activity and Cancer

Physical activity is a factor that signals a modifiable lifestyle and has the potential to reduce the risk of many diseases, including some types of cancer.
It has been shown that women who practiced some type of sport regularly had a lower risk of developing breast tumors.
But the relationship between physical activity and cancer had not been studied more extensively, and the time and intensities needed to counteract the risk of incidence had not been quantified.

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society and the Harvard Chan School analyzed the habits and health status of 755,459 adults for more than 10 years.
The conclusions of this observational study were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology where they said that, compared to not doing any physical activity, moderate movement was associated with a significantly lower risk of suffering from seven different types of cancer.

Physical activity reduces the risk of seven types of cancer

The participants were followed for 10 years and accumulated 50,620 cases of malignant tumors.
The most studied types of cancer were: colon, breast, endometrial, kidney, myeloma, liver and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42978-020-00064-3

Drug Interaction and Cancer Risk

Researchers at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) in Tarragona have managed to predict the interaction between 69 drugs in 85 types of cancer through a simple algorithm, with a success rate of 75%.
This algorithm groups together cancers that are similar on the one hand and, on the other, drugs that behave in a similar way.

Algorithm predicts drug interaction in 85 types of cancer

The developers explain that there are many combinations between layers and nodes in this algorithm, and this development makes it possible to predict what the interactions between drugs will be like in each of the types of cancer, with a success rate of 75 percent, only taking into account the known interactions, without the need for other biological parameters to intervene.

Most cancer therapies are short-lived because tumors develop resistance continuously.
In this regard, the combination of different drugs could provide a very beneficial solution.
Faced with this scenario, a new complication arises, and that is that the variety of drugs and their possible combinations make countless laboratory tests and numerous clinical trials necessary, with the consequent exponential increase in monetary costs.
That is why researchers from the Rovira i Virgili University faced a challenge: to apply a method to predict, with the greatest possible reliability, what would be the interaction between 69 drugs in 85 different types of cancer.
This initiative was promoted by a pharmaceutical company and 160 research centers, institutions and researchers from around the world participated.
The team from the Tarragona university was among the top ten with the best results.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09799-2

A healthy lifestyle is key

Beyond raising awareness of early detection in many of the most common types of cancer today, at Salengei, we encourage the practice of healthy lifestyle habits.
To do this, we provide valid information, which brings the latest scientific discoveries closer and contrasts them with the developments we carry out periodically.
In this way we evolve, reconfigure, adapt and improve our formulas and offer products of undisputed quality.