A family of compounds found in broccoli and other vegetables blocked lung cancer progression in both animal studies and in human lung cancer cells, report researchers. The results, published in the 15 September issue of Cancer Research, suggest that these chemicals might some day be used to help current and former smokers ward off development of lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in Americans. “These studies provides significant insight into the mechanisms of lung cancer prevention and suggests ways the process can be slowed down after exposure has already occurred,” said the study’s principal investigator Fung-Lung Chung, professor of oncology in the Lombardi Cancer Center at the Georgetown University Medical Center. “We still need to do more research, but it may be that an agent containing these ingredients could, to some degree, help protect people who have developed early lung lesions due to smoking,” Chung said.
