Mannose, "miraculous" sugar that reduces tumor growth

Tests were performed on mice with multiple cancers and will have to be tested on humans, but this is a step towards understanding the use of mannose in humans. cancer treatment indicates that researchers and Cancer Reseach UK

Tumors use more glucose than healthy and normal tissues. However, it is very difficult to control the amount of glucose in your body only with the diet. In this study, researchers discovered that mannose can interfere with glucose to reduce the amount of sugar that cancer cells can use.

Kevin Ryan, lead author of the UK's Beatson Cancer Research Institute, said: "Tumors need a lot of glucose to grow, which limits their ability to use if is expected to slow down The problem is that normal tissues also need glucose, so we can not eliminate it completely from the body. "

" In our study, we found a dose of mannose able to block enough glucose to slow tumor growth in mice, but not as much as normal tissues were affected.This is an initial investigation, but we hope that this perfect balance will enable the future of administering mannose to patients with cancer to improve chemotherapy without harming their overall health. "

] The researchers first examined the reaction n mice with pancreatic, lung or skin cancer when mannose was added to drinking water and administered as an oral treatment.

To test the effect of mannose on the treatment of cancer, the mice were treated with cisplatin and doxorubicin, two of the most widely used chemotherapy drugs, revealed that mannose have improved the effects of chemotherapy by decreasing tumor growth, reducing tumor size and even increasing the lifespan of some mice.

Other types of cancer have also been studied, such as leukemia, osteosarcoma, cancer of the ovary and intestine. The researchers cultivated cancer cells in the laboratory and then treated them with mannose to see if their growth was affected

Some cells responded well to treatment, others did not. It has also been found that the presence of an enzyme that breaks down mannose in cells was a good indicator of the effectiveness of treatment.

Professor Kevin Ryan added, "Our next step is to investigate why the treatment works only in certain cells, so we can determine which patients might benefit more from this approach." We hope to start clinical trials as soon as possible. mannose in humans to determine its true potential as a new cancer treatment . "

Mannose is sometimes used for short periods to treat urinary tract infections. but its long-term effects have not been studied.It is important to continue research before using mannose in cancer patients.