The things that are not strange every day can help cure cancer?

Many foods such as meat and nuts are rich in arginine, which is one of the main units of protein

Because of this feature, a new study in "Science-Progress" also reveals its medical value: arginine can be used as an adjuvant therapy to improve the effect of chemotherapy in patients with brain metastases

Arginine can enter the brain relatively easily from the blood and is generally considered safe and harmless, but it can also be used by cancer cells

According to the original idea, tumors need NO, so reducing the production of NO should slow down tumor growth

Although tumors require NO, there is still an upper limit

Dr.

In the latest study, he recruited a group of patients with tumors with brain metastases.

They conducted long-term follow-up and observation of these patients.

▲Patients injected with arginine can have no abnormal neurological progression for a long time (picture source: reference [2])

Although when patients have metastases, the prognosis is not too optimistic

▲Some patients who have undergone adjuvant arginine treatment, their tumors even disappear completely (picture source: reference [2])

In addition to using NO to directly prevent tumor growth, arginine can also enhance the activity of anti-tumor immune cells, which is why some patients with brain metastases disappear completely

Dr.

However, the author suggests that the arginine composition and dosage used in the study are only suitable for medical research

Note: The original text has been deleted

Reference materials:

[1] Arginine, an inexpensive oral drug, could enhance radiation therapy for cancer.

[2] Rossella Marullo et al, The metabolic adaptation evoked by arginine enhances the effect of radiation in brain metastases, Science Advances (2021).