Nicotine may promote spread of breast cancer

NICOTINE either absorbed by smoking cigarettes or inhaling second-hand smoke may promote tumour growth and the spread of breast cancer, a study has found.

Nicotine made breast cancer cells more likely to multiply and migrate in laboratory tests, according to the study published in the journal Cancer Research. Such evidence also suggests that nicotine given to help people stop smoking should be used cautiously.

Scientists had thought for some time that the toxic, cancer-causing components of cigarettes were ingredients other than nicotine, said Michael Thun, the head of epidemiology for the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, who wasn’t involved in the study.