Niacinamide nucleoside used as a dietary supplement is a form of vitamin B3 used to treat metabolic and heart disease. However, a new study shows that it can stimulate the development of cancer and the metastasis of cancer.
millions of people around the world are willing to take various vitamins , nutritional supplements or dietary supplements. Of course, their goal is to improve health. However, as the author of the new book on Biosensors and Bioelectronics emphasizes , little is known about the mechanism of action of such drugs and the consequences of taking them. It is this very important information gap that prompted them to conduct a new study. Professor Elena Goun, the person in charge of this work, also has personal motivation. After her father died at the age of 59, just three months after he was diagnosed with colon cancer, Professor Gong began studying the metabolism of in cancerous tumors to understand the mechanism of its spread in the body - metastasis.
Previously, several studies have shown that supplementation of nicotinamide nucleoside (NR, a form of vitamin B3) has a positive effect on the state of the nerve and cardiovascular system and metabolism. However, scientists at the University of Missouri (USA) have now identified the link between vitamin B3 and health hazards, and the harm is very serious.
It is known that nicotinamide nucleoside stimulates energy metabolism in cells. It is important to understand that this applies not only to normal cells, but also to cancer cells. Because they have a higher metabolic rate, this "stimulant" has a greater impact on them.
The authors used a new bioluminescence-based imaging technique that can assess changes in nicotinamide nucleoside concentrations in living brains in real time. With its help, scientists examined tumor cells and immune system (i.e. T cells ) as well as healthy brain cells.
Taking nicotinamide nucleoside has proven that taking nicotinamide increases the likelihood of being diagnosed with “triple-negative breast cancer” (the most aggressive tumor type in cells lacking estrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptors). In addition, "harmless" vitamins can stimulate the formation of metastatic tumors in the brain. This is very dangerous because treatment options are greatly reduced when cancer affects the brain.
"Our work is particularly important because nicotinamide nucleoside is inexpensive and widely available, and a large number of ongoing clinical trials use the drug to correct cancer treatment side effects that occur in patients," Gong said.
