Why are pregnant women and children at a higher risk of developing leukemia and stomach cancer?
I read this in a recent article:
"...did find evidence that coffee may increase the risk of leukemia and stomach cancer, with the case for leukemia being strongest... people who may be vulnerable to these risks -- for example pregnant women and children -- should limit coffee consumption..." (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070501/hl_nm/coffee_good_dc )
So why do pregnant women and children have a higher risk of developing leukemia & stomach cancer? It can't be because of a weakend immune system because the elderly & sick have that & they weren't mentioned. It can't be because of age because kids are obviously not the same age as pregnant women.
So what is the reason?
I get what you're trying to say -- the end part almost confused me. Anyway it makes sense; I totally disregarded a lot of things when asking this question; esp. the hormone factor. Thanks for your input :)
- Notyour B
The process of implantation of an embryo is a little similar to the one which allows a tumor to grow: both must allow a 'parasitic' organism to grow and evade the immune system somehow. How this is done, we have only a few known processes, and a faint idea. As for the process of growth in a child, it involves all kind of hormones which promotes cell division.
Cancer cells have about the same biochemistry as the rest of the body, and that means that they will benefit also of all growth factors/immune protection afforded by the child/pregnant mother. An example of growth factor which may help a tumor to grow and is produced in higher amounts in children and pregnant women is VEGF, vascular epitelial growth factor, which allows a tumor to develop its blood vessel network.
A pregnant mother getting cancer is a worst case scenario: it may hemper diagnosis, treatment is generally impossible (chemo & radiotherapy are out of the question), and growth factors are there to maximize tumor stimulation. That's even more true of ER+ breast cancer which benefits from high level estrogen stimulation throughtout pregnancy.
Another factor is that, like the elderly, immune function of children before adrenarch (age 7-8) is lower than that of an adult. That's why children share a vulnerability to infections/some cancers with the elderly. If you look specifically at leukemia, for example, you find it in two particular age groups: kids and old people.
We dont really understand everything specifically on those things, since the 'immune system' is far from understood at this time. Until very recently, it was even thought that there was no immune protection of the brain (now we know this protection is afforded by glial cells). This is my personal (sorry if a little fuzzy !) hypothesis.
Leukemia — Comprehensive overview covers symptoms, causes, risk factors, treatment of this blood-related cancer.
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