Environment, Lifestyle and Human Cancers

Cancer is a broad term used to define uncontrolled cell growth and division, resulting in

accumulation of irregular cells in the form of tumors, loss of immune system and many other

impairments which are almost always fatal. It is a well known fact that incidence of cancer is

rising every year. As per worldwide cancer incidence statistics, 17 million new cases of cancer

were reported in the year 2018 and it is expected to increase substantially by 62% in 2030

(Cancer Research, UK). In India, ~10% population has a chance of developing cancer and ~7%

has a chance of dying from cancer before age of 75 years. Approximately 2.25 million people are

living with cancer and 0.8 million died due to cancer in 2018 (cancerindia.org.in). Cancer is a

complex disease caused by numerous known and unknown factors, however environment and

lifestyle factors combined with internal genetic changes are primary causes of human cancers.

Human cancers are caused by environmental exposures, such as chemicals, tobacco smoke, UV

radiations, etc. that can damage our DNA and lifestyle factors such as obesity, diet, alcohol,

smoking, lack of exercise, unsafe sex and hormonal imbalance. It is believed that half of the

worldwide cancers can be avoided by protecting our environment and adopting healthy lifestyle.

This can be achieved by quitting smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, exercise, weight

reduction, safer sex measures and plant based diets. Our laboratory is equipped with Proteomics,

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology instrumentations that are utilized to identify molecular

markers of various diseases including infertility, reproductive cancers, leukemia, etc. The

identified molecules (proteins, mRNA, siRNA) are then studied and validated if they can serve

as disease markers and/or therapeutic targets.