As has been shown in previous research, there is a low probability of simultaneously developing cancer and Alzheimer’s from the age of 60, since both are two manifestations of the same “disease”: old age or the natural deterioration of the body. Until now, scientists had put forward different hypotheses to clarify this inverse link, without conclusive results. A new study published in the journal PLOS Genetics has provided the first reliable evidence of the connection between tumors and diseases in the nervous system , which underlies the opposite expression of the same genes depending on whether it is one disorder or another.
Researchers from the National Cancer Research Council (CNIO) collated the gene expression data of almost 1,700 people from 30 studies on central nervous system diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and schizophrenia, and those from studies on three types of cancer (colon , lung and prostate). As a result of the analysis, they found a hundred genes, among which PIN1, Wnt and P53 stood out, which were involved in the two types of diseases, although in the opposite way, presenting an overactivation or underactivation depending on whether it was cancer or Alzheimer’s .
In the case of the PIN1 gene, for example, related to the protein folding process, its overexposure implied the acceleration of cellular metabolism linked to the development of tumors , but at the same time it prevented the normal functioning of the TAU protein, which plays a key role in the degeneration of neurons and the development of Alzheimer’s. ” Up to 90% of the biological processes that appear increased (accelerated by greater expression of genes) in the case of cancer are repressed in the diseases of the nervous system analyzed”, highlight the CNIO researchers Cesar Boullosa and Kristina Ibáñez.
This finding represents an important advance in the identification of the nexus between neoplastic and neurodegenerative pathologies , although the origin of the genetic behavior described remains to be specified, since the medication administered for years could also influence the alteration of gene expression.
