Scientists removed certain amino acids from the diet of rodents suffering from glioblastoma (a deadly form of brain cancer) and found that the destructive cells began to die as a result of the process of ferroptosis. What’s more, mice put on a restrictive diet were also more susceptible to drugs that caused the same type of cancer cell death. The results of the study will help in the fight against the disease in humans, scientists say.
The death of cells within the human body is a normal part of its functioning. Through apoptosis, abnormal cells that are no longer needed are destroyed and reabsorbed. However, this process is blocked in abnormal cells, making it harder for the body to get rid of them. As a result, they multiply and pose a danger to human health. Ferroptosis, another type of cell death, was discovered relatively recently; iron plays a key role in it. Earlier its activation tied up with a possible way to fight cancer.
A research team from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and Columbia University found that cells involved in the formation of glioblastoma are particularly susceptible to death from ferroptosis. At the same time, glioblastoma is incurable and fatal in 100% of cases. It is a fast growing cancer with an average survival time of only 16 months.
As part of the study, the scientists fed mice a diet that limited their intake of cysteine and methionine, two sulfur amino acids. Earlier reduction of these substances tied up with ferroptosis and death of cancer cells in lung and pancreatic cancer, as well as in sarcomas. Biologists have not only found that such a diet increases the likelihood of glioblastoma cell death from ferroptosis. They also noted that cells become more receptive to chemotherapy drugs, which means they can be administered at lower doses. All mice on the special diet had a better survival period than the animals in the control group. Rodents kept on a combined diet and chemotherapy regimen did better.
Cysteine is found in whole grains, beef, eggs, and poultry, and foods high in methionine include Brazil nuts, fish, and pork, as well as beef, eggs, and poultry. It is unclear whether human glioblastoma patients on a diet that restricts these amino acids will live as well as mice. However, lead Dominic Higgins, lead researcher at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, plans to find out.
“Now we need to find a way to eliminate these components (cysteine and methionine) at the expense of dietary requirements, while maintaining the energy that a patient may have, especially a cancer patient,” Higgins said.
He is working with colleagues to develop a human study that puts patients with glioblastoma on a restricted diet before undergoing surgery to remove the tumor. After the surgery, scientists will analyze the tumors to see what effect the diet has had.
Research published in the journal Nature Communications.
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Cover: Glioma by Katherine E. Warren Wikimedia Commons
