Research team uncovers the underpinnings of head and neck cancers (methionine)

Medical Xpress / University of Southern California / Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ^ | July 30, 2024 | Katharine Gammon / Chehyun Nam et al

[ConservativeMind]

A new paper shows how an amino acid may hold the secrets of oral cancers.

Upper aerodigestive squamous cell carcinoma is a common and aggressive malignancy—it attacks more than half a million people each year, leaving them battling fatal tumors in the airways of the head and neck. Even with so many individuals impacted, there are few effective therapeutic options.

Assistant Professor Dechen Lin may just have a solution. New research shows that a pathway of a particular amino acid may be critical in shutting down the growth and proliferation of oral cancers, and a specific diet could be a treatment.

Lin started by noticing that a small amino acid called methionine is present in very high amounts in oral cancers—more than any other type of cancer tumors. Methionine is not produced by the body, and must be consumed through diet—the molecule is found in foods like shrimp, eggs and beef.

His team started to study the ways the body moves methionine around cells, through a transporter called LAT1. By blocking the transporter, the team was able to see how the pathway worked in an animal model.

By targeting this amino acid for future treatments—with both drugs and diet-based interventions—patients could have a much more effective treatment path.

Using animals and lab-grown organoids from the tissues of real patients, Lin and the team showed that a special diet lacking in methionine blocked the pathway, tumors grew much more slowly—about half of those in animals on the regular diet.

"This vulnerability is specific for cancer, because the cancer cells feed on this methionine," Lin explains. "And if we take it away, they die quickly, but normal cells do not die quickly. They don't really care much. So that's a perfect window."

[ConservativeMind]

Adopting a very low methionine diet for a short period of time may cut cancer growth in half, while normal cells are not hurt.

[ConservativeMind]

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[metmom]

Adopting a very low methionine diet for a short period of time may cut cancer growth in half, while normal cells are not hurt.

So what does one not teat then?

[JohnnyP]

Not good for we carnivores:

Methionine is an essential amino acid found in high quantities in average American diet such as nuts, beef, lamb, cheese, turkey, pork, fish, shellfish, soy, eggs, dairy, and beans.

[dennisw]

pinh

[virgil]

Is it found in edible insects?

[Thommas]

Eat more chicken.

[aimhigh]

The article links takes me to an article on:
Long-term low-carb diet efficacious for treating dyslipidemia in T2D

[ConservativeMind]

Thank you for mentioning that.

I am asking the mods to change it.

[ConservativeMind]

The mods have still not updated it.

Here is what it should be:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-07-team-uncovers-underpinnings-neck-cancers.html

[aimhigh]

thanks.