2023-12-21 09:58:42
Recently, British scientists discovered that certain mouse breast cancer cells contain high amounts of vitamin B5. Removing vitamin B5 from feed can effectively inhibit tumor growth. This discovery is expected to provide new ideas for the development of cancer treatments. The results were published in the journal Nature Metabolism.
Previous studies have shown that in order to face the complex microenvironment, tumor cancer cells develop flexible metabolic pathways to meet their growth needs. Different cancer cells in the same tumor may also rely on different nutrients. In order to delve deeper, scientists from the Francis Crick Institute in the UK used advanced mass spectrometry (MS) and imaging technology to analyze the metabolic products of cancer cells in different areas of the same breast cancer tumor.
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After complex analysis and verification, the team found that breast cancer cells in a group of mice that highly expressed the oncogenic protein MYC contained large amounts of vitamin B5. Vitamin B5 can be converted by cells into “coenzyme A” (CoA), which is an important cofactor for many enzymes related to the metabolism of amino acids, sugars and fatty acids. There is also evidence that in human breast cancer tumors, cancer cells with higher MYC protein expression do have higher levels of vitamin B5; cancer cells with higher MYC protein also have higher metabolic activity.
MYC protein is known to be a “transcription factor” and has the function of promoting the expression of various genes. The team found that MYC increases the expression of the SLC5A6 gene in cancer cells, making the cell membrane more SLC5A6 protein responsible for absorbing vitamin B5, allowing cancer cells to absorb more vitamin B5. Simply increasing the expression of SLC5A6 in cancer cells is enough to increase vitamin B5 content and accelerate growth.
The team further explored whether removing vitamin B5 from the diet would be effective in treating cancer. The results showed that it was indeed effective in limiting the growth of tumors with high expression of MYC; however, it had no effect on cancer cells with low expression of MYC and which are not originally dependent on vitamin B5.
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Scientists discussed in the report that current cancer chemotherapy often supplements patients’ vitamin intake to compensate for the damage to the gastrointestinal tract caused by chemotherapy and malnutrition. However, research suggests that in some cases, choosing not to take vitamin supplements may help chemotherapy drugs destroy cancer cells more effectively.
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