Researchers examine impact of nicotine exposure on prostate cancer

A grant from the U.S. Department of Defense will allow researchers at the University of South Alabama to study how exposure to nicotine impacts prostate cancer progression and therapeutic outcome.

Ajay Singh, Ph.D., professor of pathology at the Whiddon College of Medicine, is the recipient of the $1.16 million award and principal investigator of the project.

Tobacco use is the single most modifiable risk factor for many human diseases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoking causes more

NEWS BRIEFS or have at least one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education, and complete a training program provided by the USA Health Spiritual Care Department. Visit usahealthsystem. com/spiritual-care for more info and to apply. than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States, including an estimated 41,000 deaths from exposure to secondhand smoke. This recognition has promoted the use of cigarette substitutes that contain nicotine to satiate addiction, while having reduced levels of other cancer-causing chemicals, Singh said.

“Doubts about this notion, however, have been raised; and it has been shown that nicotine can, in fact, affect several steps in the development of cancer,” said Singh, who also leads the cancer biology program at the Mitchell Cancer Institute. “Our prelim-

NICU graduates, families and caregivers reunite

Some of the youngest in attendance at the Children’s & Women’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Reunion had overcome the greatest odds. Despite being born premature, underweight or ill, they – and their families and caregivers inary studies make strong suggestions for a pathobiological involvement of nicotine exposure in prostate cancer aggressiveness and therapy resistance.”

Researchers will use the grant funds to tease out the underlying molecular mechanisms and gather preclinical and clinical support for their experimental findings. Additionally, the lab will collect prostate tumor tissues from patients who smoke and those who don’t smoke, and study nicotine-induced changes in proteins of pathological relevance.

– had reason to celebrate on April 1. The first NICU Reunion since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic – and the 31st overall – reunited several hundred graduates of all ages, families who connected over their shared experience, and caregivers who never gave up. They enjoyed an afternoon of food, games, raffle drawings, a photo booth, an Easter egg hunt, the Easter Bunny, trail maids and more.