Question: I know that you are studying heart desise but is the subject related to cancer and could you help with cancer iswell?

Mike Dodd answered on 15 Jun 2011:

Hey Siobhan8, actually there are some similarity between cancers and heart disease. When your cells turn against your body to form a tumour they change the way that they use the “fuel” of the body, fat and sugar. The cancer cells start to use more sugar and less fat. But there aren’t very good at using it and they end up wasting energy and the sugar is only partly used. They end up releasing a molecule called lactate, which, when produced in high levels, can harm healthy cells. When you enter heart failure, which happens after many years of suffering from heart disease and is when your heart can no longer pump blood around your body, there are similar changes to your cells. Your heart cells start to use more sugar and less fat. Normally they get 70% of there energy from fat, but this changes. We are testing drugs which can reverse these changes. A drug are many well known drugs which have been known to help kill cancer cells, by making they change the way they use their fuel. I have also been using this for looking at heart disease and it helps them. Although instead of killing heart cells, it makes them better! So what might kill a cancer cell, saves a heart cell 🙂