Preliminary research suggests that nicotine may play a role in the development, as well as the spread, of breast tumors, according to a study published last week in Cancer Research, the journal of the American Association of Cancer Research .

 Scientists from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and their colleagues investigated the effect of nicotine on breast tumor development in both normal breast cells and cancerous breast cells. They found that nicotine interacts with receptors on both types of cells to stimulate breast cancer growth and migration. However, the scientists stress that nicotine itself does not cause breast cancer, but it does seem to combine with other yet-to-be-determined factors to promote cancer development.

This study suggests that nicotine may be a component in the development of breast cancers which are induced by secondhand smoke, but additional research is needed to further investigate this possibility.

Source

Cancer Res. 2008;68:8473-8480.