It would help cancer cells to replicate.
When we think “vitamin”, we say “good for health” but not always. An American study shows that a well-known vitamin can be bad in case of cancer. According to the authors of theUniversity of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (United States), this vitamin helps cancer cells replicate in case of pancreatic cancer. In France, around 14,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year. The vitamin in question is vitamin B6. This vitamin “contributes to the body’s energy metabolismnormal functioning of the nervous system, the formation of red blood cells and the regulation of hormonal activity. recalls the European Food Safety Agency. B6 strengthens the cells of the immune system, including natural killer cells (NK). It is these NK who act first and foremost against all types of illnesseswhether it’s a simple cold or a more serious pathology like cancer.
A vitamin that nourishes cancer cells
If these benefits for healthy people are not called into question by the study, it highlights the role of B6 in the development of pancreatic cancer. How ? When pancreatic cancer grows, its cells need vitamin B6 to reproduce. Thus, in the presence of pancreatic cancer, NK cells are notably absent since the cancer cells actively consume the vitamin B6 that NK cells need to do their job. This process is not always equal depending on the patient but “during a standoff over a limited supply of vitamin B6pancreatic cancer almost always wins“, explains the study. It is therefore essential to understand how to reverse this process in order to improve the survival of patients affected by this NK deficiency. The researchers confirmed that the survival was better in some patients with “strong infiltration of NK into the tumor” compared to those who had one “weak”.
What to do ?
Despite their success in other cancers, immunotherapies have shown limited effectiveness against pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. “Given theThe protective role of NK infiltrating tumors“ the researchers first attempted to “treating tumor-bearing mice with a cytokine inducing NK cell proliferation and activation.” In vain. Just giving more vitamin B6 also failed to help NK cells. On the contrary, the cancer cells were able to grow further by devouring those extra nutrients. Kamiya Mehla, one of the researchers, discovered a three-pronged strategy: “The first step is to reduce the expression of a particular gene to block the pathway by which the cancer takes up vitamin B6. The second step is to provide more vitamin B6 and the third uses therapy to improve the function of the NK cells.” This strategy was also tested on mice. This with a single goal: to strengthen the immune system since it “must be strong for other treatments, such as chemotherapy, to be effective. Therapy will not work if the immune system is not able to play its role.” This strategy made it possible to reduce the quantity of pancreatic cancer cells.