Researchers Leverage Cell Self-destruction to Treat Brain Tumors
Published:08 May2023 Source:University of North Carolina Health Care
Higgins and a team of researchers at Columbia University have found that glioblastoma tumor cells are particularly sensitive to ferroptosis -- a type of cell death that can be triggered by removing certain amino acids from the diet.
Every cell has certain safety features to keep it from going through ferroptosis in an unpredictable way. Two amino acids, cysteine and methionine, are critical for preventing the process from starting in cells. We typically pick up these amino acids through our diet.By depriving animal models of cysteine and methionine through a customized diet, they found that the glioblastoma cells were significantly more likely to die via ferroptosis. They also found that the diet made their chemotherapy drugs more apt at initiating programmed cell death, meaning that very low doses were able to achieve a more potent effect than before. Ultimately, the animal models had improved survival after going on the diet.
Having proven that the diet is effective in animal models, Higgins is working with colleagues at UNC Lineberger to develop a clinical trial for patients with glioblastoma.This type of diet has also shown to be very effective in sarcoma, lung cancers, and pancreatic cancers, so there is hope that this diet can be used to put some extra umph behind chemotherapy and/or surgery to remove tumors throughout the body.