“A nutrient contained in meat and dairy products can help immunotherapy”

2023-11-23 13:08:54

“For a long time considered only as a risk factor for cancer, a study from the University of Chicago rehabilitates, at least in part, the consumption of red meat” revealing that “in meat and dairy products from grazing animals, such as cows and sheep, there is a hidden nutrient, trans-vaccenic acid (Tva), which the human body cannot produce on its own and which could strengthen the immune response against cancer, as well as enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy”. For this reason, the discovery published in ‘Nature’ has attracted the attention of the experts who will gather in Naples for the ninth edition of the Immunotherapy Bridge (29-30 November) and the 14th of the Melanoma Bridge (30 November-2 December). Paolo Ascierto, an oncologist at Pascale, suggests that “Tva could be used as a food supplement to help increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatments”.

“There is more and more scientific evidence linking nutrition to the response to immunotherapy”, comments Ascierto, director of Sc Medical Oncology Melanoma Oncology Immunotherapy and Innovative Therapies of the National Cancer Institute Irccs Fondazione Pascale of Naples. “However – he specifies – it is very difficult to understand the underlying mechanisms, due to the wide variety of foods that people eat. The merit of the colleagues from the University of Chicago is that they focused only on the nutrients and metabolites derived from food, finding one in particular, Tva, which improves anti-tumor immunity by activating an important immune pathway. In particular, researchers have shown that Tva is able to improve the ability of CD8+ T cells to infiltrate tumors and kill tumor cells The study also shows that patients with higher levels of Tva circulating in the blood responded better to immunotherapy, suggesting that Tva could complement clinical treatments for cancer.”

“Experiments conducted by scientists at the University of Chicago on mouse models of several tumors found that a Tva-enriched diet significantly reduced the growth potential of melanoma and cancer cells. The Tva diet also improved the ability of the cells CD8+ T cells to infiltrate tumors”, underlines Ascierto. “But be careful”, he points out: “The study does not indicate excessive consumption of red meat and dairy products. Rather, the results suggest” precisely that “TVA could be used as a food supplement” capable of strengthening the effects of immunotherapy, “although it is important to determine the optimal quantity of the nutrient itself to be taken. What matters – concludes the oncologist – is the Tva nutrient and its possible intake in the right doses, not its source (meat and dairy products)”.