Amino acid produced in the human body or absorbed by food can be suppressed to stop the spread of breast cancer in mice, researchers said.
They hope that the discovery can provide a method for preventing the spread of cancer cells in the woman's chest to form tumors in the lungs, brain, other organs or bones, a process known as "metastasis," which is the most common cause death.
Laboratory mouse tests have revealed that the compound called asparagine may be a key factor in the spread of breast cancer, researchers said.
The amino acid - building block of proteins - can be produced from any cell in the human body, including cancer cells, or absorbed by foods such as beef, dairy products, poultry, seafood, asparagus and soy.
In studies in mice, "we can reduce metastasis by altering the ability of tumor cells to produce asparagine by treating mice with a drug that reduces the presence of asparagine in the body or by eliminating asparagine from nutrition," says Greg Hannan of the Institute for Cancer Research in Cambridge.
He is the lead author of a study published in the journal Nature.
By reducing asparagine in the diet of mice, metastases have halved, Hannan told AFP.
And when combined with other asparagine-limiting methods, metastases were reduced by about 20 times, he said.
source:rozali.com