Missing amino acids
Robert Klatt
- Glioblastoma is one particularly aggressive tumor typethat so far cannot be treated
- A study now shows that the cancer cells destroy themselves with a special amino acid diet
- Whether the mice obtained results It is not yet clear whether it can be transmitted to humans
A special amino acid diet ensures that the cancer cells of glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive type of tumor, destroy themselves.
Chapel Hill (U.S.A.). The human immune system usually breaks down and resorbs abnormal or superfluous body cells by itself. Recently, researchers discovered the Columbia University and New York University (NYU) a special form of this cell death, the so-called ferroptosis. According to their publication in the specialist magazine Nature Chemical Biology In addition to two sulphur-containing amino acids, iron in particular plays an essential role in ferroptosis. In cancer cells, this process of cell death is often blocked and tumors develop.
A team of University of North Carolina School of Medicine (UNC) and Columbia University have now, according to an in the journal Nature Communications published study proves that a special diet can lead to highly aggressive cancer cells destroying themselves.
Experiments with highly aggressive cancer cells
For their experiments, the scientists led by Peter Canoll used so-called glioblastomas, a type of tumor with a 100 percent mortality rate and an average life expectancy of 16 months from diagnosis. Medicine has long assumed that in this and other tumors, certain proteins prevent ferroptosis and thereby stop the death of the cancer cells.
In their experiments, which were carried out with mice with a glioblastoma, the researchers therefore severely restricted the intake of methionine and cysteine from food. The protein cysteine is mainly found in whole grain products as well as in beef, poultry and eggs. Methionine is found in fish, beef, pork, eggs, Brazil nuts and poultry.
Longer survival through special diet
In fact, the special diet meant that the mice survived significantly longer than the control group. The amino acid diet not only had a direct effect on ferroptosis, but also made the cancer cells respond better to chemotherapy. The mice that received both the amino acid diet and the chemotherapy drugs lived the longest.
It is still unclear whether the results can also be extrapolated to humans. A clinical study with human volunteers should therefore take place in the near future.
Nature Chemical Biology, doi: 10.1038/s41589-022-01249-3
Nature Communications, doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36630-w