We often think of the heart as a mere pump, pumping blood throughout the body nonstop, day and night. A normal human heart beats approximately 100,000 times daily, but new research by scientists has revealed something different. According to new research, this continuous heartbeat not only sustains life but can also protect against dangerous diseases like cancer.
This may be surprising, but it’s true that heart cancer is rare. While cancer is common in other parts of the body, the heart remains immune. Scientists have long been trying to understand this mystery, and now they have found a major reason.
Heart cells are rarely formed and replaced. Generally, areas where cells proliferate rapidly have a higher risk of cancer, but this isn’t the case in the heart. Despite this, the absence of cancer in the heart was a major question. Now, scientists believe that the heart’s constant exertion and pressure may be the reason. The heart pumps blood constantly, creating a specific type of mechanical stress within it. This pressure may inhibit the growth of cancer cells. A new study revealed that the heart’s constant movement alters the behavior of cancer cells, preventing their rapid growth.
To understand this mystery, scientists conducted a unique experiment on rats. They transplanted a heart into the rat’s neck. This transplanted heart was receiving blood, but it wasn’t working as hard as a normal heart, meaning its heartbeat pressure was lower. Then, the scientists injected cancer cells into both hearts: one was a normal, beating heart and the other was a transplanted heart with lower pressure. The results were quite surprising. Cancer cells couldn’t grow in hearts that were beating normally, but tumors were more readily formed in hearts under lower pressure. This made it clear that the heartbeat itself acts as a defense mechanism against cancer.
Scientists further discovered that it’s not just external pressure, but that it penetrates cells and affects their genes. A specific protein, Nesprin-2, plays a crucial role in this process. This protein transmits external pressure to the nucleus, where it alters gene activity. When this protein functions properly, cancer-related genes slow down, and cells are unable to grow. When scientists turned off this protein, the situation changed. Cancer cells began to grow rapidly again. Tumors even began to form in a beating heart. This proved that this entire system is an active defense mechanism.