A team of scientists at The Wistar Institute has identified a potential role of fructose, a sugar that occurs naturally in fruits and is frequently added to processed foods and beverages, in the dissemination of ovarian cancer cells following chemotherapy treatment. Their research, published in Nature Aging, reveals that ovarian cancer cells that survive platinum-based chemotherapy do not merely remain inactive; instead, they continue to be biologically engaged and emit fructose as a signaling molecule to adjacent tumor cells. This signaling suppresses cholesterol synthesis in surrounding cells, diminishing the adhesive properties that keep them bound together, thereby facilitating their detachment and spread, which accounts for approximately 90% of fatalities associated with ovarian cancer. Furthermore, the research indicates that statins, widely used cholesterol-lowering medications, have a comparable impact on cellular adhesion, prompting further investigation into the interactions between diet, medication, and chemotherapy. The researchers emphasize that these findings are preliminary, based on laboratory and animal studies, and caution that patients should not modify their use of statins without medical advice. The laboratory is currently exploring whether this fructose signaling mechanism also contributes to the spread of pancreatic, colon, and liver cancers.
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