Scientists from Osaka University and the Sanford, Burnham and Prebis Institute for Medical Discovery found that mannose sugar makes cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy and also slows their reproduction. Results published in the journal eLifeThis suggests that mannose may be a useful adjunct to cancer treatment.
Mannose is a sugar that can combine with protein molecules in the body to help stabilize their structure and facilitate their interaction with other molecules. Cell studies in the lab have also shown that mannose inhibits the growth of several types of cancer.
The authors of the new study suggested that the cancer-preventing properties of mannose are related to its toxicity to honeybees: this sugar is deadly to them. The fact is that bees lack the enzyme mannose phosphate isomerase (MPI), which is essential for processing mannose.
Using genetic engineering, the scientists obtained cancer cells of human fibrosarcoma (a rare cancer that affects connective tissue) with a closed MPI gene responsible for the production of mannose phosphate isomerase.
This initiated honey bee syndrome in cancer cells, making them unable to synthesize the building blocks of DNA and reproduce normally. They also became much more vulnerable to chemotherapy.
Scientists believe that mannose could be an effective adjuvant therapy for cancers that lack the MPI enzyme. Because mannose occurs naturally in the body, it can improve cancer treatment without any unwanted side effects.
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Source: Gazeta
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