This is an excerpt from the book I’m currently working on, titled Immortal Till You Die, which focuses on extending healthspan. Please note that the manuscript isn’t finished yet, let alone edited, so please be forgiving of any mistakes you find. My editor should also find and fix them…
Chronic inflammation and how it affects cancer
It’s estimated that up to 50% of cancer is preventable through lifestyle changes. But what is it about elevated insulin levels and the higher inflammatory markers that go with it that are so bad for cancer?
To understand the lifestyle/cancer connection, we need to get a little more into the weeds about the nature of inflammation, which I find people often misunderstand (at least a little).
The best way to think about inflammation is as a communication process between different tissues in your body. Inflammation isn’t just a process, though; it’s a list of signaling molecules that promote different processes that we usually need to happen. Things like blood vessel or lung tissue relaxation or contraction, angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels), and signaling the immune system to attack a foreign invader.
But, like in most of life, too much of a good thing can quickly become a bad thing. And elevated insulin promotes the elevation of specific signaling molecules that can wreak havoc if left unchecked.
Let’s look at a few of them.
First is Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha (TNF-α). The effects of TNF-α are something we’re all familiar with, as it promotes the redness and swelling we all think of as inflammation after an injury. TNF-α, when functioning properly and at the right level, also helps trigger apoptosis, the programmed death of a cell that has outlived its usefulness. That’s something we want when it comes to cancer. Those cells need to die.
BUT, long-term exposure to chronic inflammation and TNF-α signals another molecule known as VEGF, which stands for “vascular endothelial growth factor” and is responsible for creating new vessels that can supply a tumor with the nutrients it needs to grow.
Another classic inflammatory cytokine is Interleukin-6 (IL-6). In the proper environment, IL-6 is our friend and an invaluable signaling molecule in the acute-phase response that helps fight infections.
In the chronic scenario, things go off the rails with IL-6. It helps promote angiogenesis in tumors, fibrosis of tissues, especially in the lung (remember the “cytokine storm” during COVID? IL-6 was the cytokine that did all the stormin’), and has anti-apoptotic effects (which means cells that should die won’t).
We’ll talk a little later about how to know that your inflammatory markers are elevated, but for now, just know that the closer you are to a normal BMI, the more likely it is that your inflammation situation is under control.
I know that some of this can get a little dense, but you can see how cells not dying when they should and the promotion of blood flow to those cells would both be bad for tumors, and chronically elevated inflammation does both (and more). That particular environment can allow cancer cells that your body would have cleared out with the garbage to find a foothold, set up shop, and potentially spread.
Two more ways in which chronically elevated inflammation leads to cancer are the damage to DNA and tissue remodeling that allows for tumors to invade places that were previously shielded.
Chronic inflammation releases reactive oxygen species (ROS) that cause oxidative stress, which can then lead to mutations in tumor suppressor genes. Without that safeguard, tumors can grow uninhibited like a bunch of wild teenagers with no supervision.
Chronic inflammation also leads to the production of enzymes such as matrix metalloproteinases, which are usually helpful (if you have a herniated disc in your back, those enzymes help it heal), but left unchecked, they can remodel the extracellular matrix, facilitating tumor invasion.
Ok, Green here again — the book should be out early next year, so if this kind of thing interests you, consider following my Amazon Author’s Page.
