Nicotine gum linked to mouth cancer

Published on Wednesday 22 April 2009 21:58

CHEWING gum and lozenges containing nicotine could be linked to mouth cancer, research suggested yesterday.

Tobacco replacement therapies are designed to help people quit smoking by providing them with doses of nicotine – the addictive substance in cigarettes. But research funded by the Medical Research Council and published in the journal PLoS ONE suggests that these therapies could have the potential to cause mouth cancer.

Experts, however, said the research should not stop people using nicotine replacement therapies to help them quit smoking. Unlike other ingredients in cigarettes, such as tar and carbon monoxide, nicotine has not been linked to cancer.

Researchers from the Institute of Dentistry, Queen Mary University London, found nicotine increased the levels of a gene called FOXM1. They also found FOXM1 was increased in the early stages of mouth cancer.