Pancreatic cancer: Why high-fat diets increase the risk of illness

In a recent study, researchers at Georgetown University in the United States showed that pancreatic cancer can be caused by a fat diet, regardless of obesity, especially because of certain digestive hormones.

Although the factors of pancreatic cancer remain unclear, it is well known that this may be due to high and associated fat obesity in smoking and surconsommaton products. But researchers at Georgetown University in the United States found that the disease may also occur due to a fat diet, and the latter is not related to weight problems, especially due to the particular digestive hormones. This was explained in a study published in the American Journal of Physiology - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology on June 21, 2018.

The hormone in question is cholecystokinin (CKK). Released by the small intestine, it controls the satiety through the receiver. Dietary fat causes CCK secretion, which means that people who eat large amounts of saturated fat have high levels of CCK. CCK deficiency is the cause of obesity because people with it feel less satiety.

The origin of CCK and its receptors in pancreatic cancer

The researchers conducted several mouse studies to analyze the interaction between dietary fat, CCK, and pancreatic cancer cell growth. For each study, half of the mice received a high-fat diet while the other half received a normal diet. In the first study, half of them received proclumide, a drug that blocks CCK. In the second, the mouse has a tumor and lacks a CCK receptor, while in the third, the mouse lacks CCK and has a pancreatic tumor.

The researchers found that mice fed rosiglitazone had lower tumor growth rates, even though they ate very fat. These results indicate that CCK is required for stimulating the growth of pancreatic cancer. In addition, mice without a CKK receptor and having a high fat diet had no tumor growth. This suggests that if the hormone is not associated with its receptor, high levels of CCK due to a fatty diet will not cause cancer.

In order to effectively treat pancreatic cancer?

Another noteworthy component: mice treated with proglumide appear to protect fibrosis, with an abnormal increase in the amount of fibrous tissue associated with abnormal growth (cancellation of cancer cells from primary organs) and resistance in chemotherapy.

According to the researchers, this finding is a hope for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, one of the lowest survival cancers: "Most advanced pancreatic cancer patients die due to metastasis, making the components of the box even larger in the primary tumor. When it is possible to block the clinical significance of CCK receptor manipulation may play a role in the treatment and prevention of pancreatic cancer.."