What is Angiogenesis? Big Tobacco Hopes You Don’t Know.

Angiogenesis is the development of new blood vessels, which in the normal functioning of the human body is beneficial. However, when this process fuels cancer cells by developing new blood vessels to feed them, it allows malignancies to grow and spread aggressively throughout the body. This biological mechanism essentially creates a dedicated blood supply directly to tumours, enabling them to expand beyond a microscopic size and potentially metastasize to distant organs.

Recent research has illuminated how nicotine acts as a catalyst for cancer progression. AI Overview confirms that angiogenesis, the process of forming new blood vessels, is crucial for cancer cells as it provides them with the necessary oxygen and nutrients to grow and spread. By creating a blood supply directly to the tumour, angiogenesis allows cancer to expand beyond a certain size and potentially metastasize to other parts of the body. Essentially, angiogenesis acts as a lifeline for cancer growth and invasion.

Big tobacco has been promoting the alleged benefits of the neurotoxin and banned pesticide nicotine for many years while simultaneously downplaying its carcinogenic effects. The wiggle room for denying this toxic chemical’s role in cancer is getting smaller and smaller as more recent research not sponsored by the tobacco industry reveals its dangerous effects.

Key findings about nicotine’s role in cancer promotion:

• Stimulates the formation of new blood vessels that feed tumours

• Provides essential nutrients and oxygen to cancer cells

• Enables rapid tumour growth and expansion

• Facilitates cancer metastasis to other body parts

• Creates conditions for brain cancer development in smokers

Even if nicotine does not directly cause cancer initiation, there is no doubt it promotes cancer by providing a blood supply to cancer cells so they can spread quickly throughout the body. The groundbreaking research by Heeschen et al in 2001 demonstrated this connection, showing how nicotine stimulates angiogenesis and promotes tumour growth and atherosclerosis. Their work revealed that nicotine activates endothelial cells, which line blood vessels, triggering the formation of new vascular networks that feed growing tumours.

This may explain in part why over half the smokers who get lung cancer have cancer spread to the brain as well. The 2023 study by Yu et al published in Frontiers in Neurology established a clear association between smoking and reduced survival rates in patients with brain metastasis of lung cancer. When lung cancer spreads to the brain, patients face significantly worse outcomes, and nicotine’s role in promoting angiogenesis likely contributes to this devastating complication.

The tobacco industry has spent decades and billions of dollars attempting to rehabilitate nicotine’s image. From introducing “light” cigarettes to developing heat-not-burn products, e-cigarettes, and nicotine pouches, they continuously reinvent delivery methods while the core ingredient remains unchanged. Nicotine remains a highly poisonous neurotoxin, banned pesticide, and potential chemical weapon, regardless of how it’s packaged or marketed.

No matter how the tobacco industry tries to change its delivery of nicotine from cigarettes to light cigarettes to heat-not-burn, to e-cigarettes to nicotine pouches, it is still based on the highly poisonous neurotoxin, banned pesticide, and potential chemical weapon, nicotine. There is no doubt that nicotine, although it may not directly cause cancer initiation, promotes cancer progression through angiogenesis stimulation. Understanding angiogenesis and its role in feeding cancer cells is crucial for public health awareness and informed decision-making about nicotine product use.

References

Heeschen, C., Jang, J.J., Weis, M., et al, “Nicotine Stimulates Angiogenesis and Promotes Tumor Growth and Atherosclerosis”, Nature Medicine, 7: 833-839, 2001

Yu, J., Zhang, Y, Liu, Z, et al., “Association of Smoking with the Survival of Patients with Brain Metastasis of Lung Cancer”, Frontiers in Neurology, 14: 8pp, 2023