Soda against cancer?
Swiss scientists from the Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research, working under the guidance of Professor Chi Van Dang, described the mechanisms by which, in conditions of high acidity, cancer cells that do not receive oxygen pass into a resting state and acquire resistance to therapy. In addition, they offer a potentially uncomplicated method of neutralizing this effect.
Specialists have long known that large areas of solid tumors are often deprived of oxygen and that the cells of these areas are the main source of resistance to treatment and relapses of the disease. Such regions of tumors suffering from oxygen starvation are characterized by increased acidity, which, as the data obtained by the authors showed, activates a critical molecular switch in cells, known as mTORC1. Under normal conditions, the function of this protein complex is to assess the availability of nutrients before the cell receives the "green light" for growth and division. However, in conditions of high acidity, it deprives cells of the ability to synthesize proteins, disrupting their metabolic activity and the work of the biological clock. Ultimately, this leads to the entry of cells into a state of rest.
The authors managed to decipher this mechanism with the help of a series of complex experiments devoted to the study of the behavior of lysosomes – intracellular membrane vesicles, inside which proteins unnecessary to the cell are cleaved. It is inside these bubbles that the activated and ready-to-act mTOR moves.
The researchers demonstrated that under conditions of high acidity, special driving proteins remove mTOR-bearing lysosomes from the perinuclear zone, where they are usually located. This separates mTOR from the RHEB protein, which is necessary for its activation and persists in the near-nuclear zone. As a result, mTOR remains inactive, which makes protein synthesis impossible and practically stops the metabolic activity of the cell.
When observing malignant tumors implanted in mice, the authors recorded mTOR activity only in oxygen-supplied regions. However, the addition of sodium bicarbonate (ordinary baking soda) to the drinking water of animals neutralized the acidity of the oxygen-deprived regions of tumors. The lysosomes of the resting cells moved again to the perinuclear space, where mTOR interacted with RHEB and triggered cellular metabolism.
This observation is extremely important for antitumor therapy, since the described mechanism awakens resting tumor cells, presumably making the tumor more susceptible to therapy.
In addition, the authors found that increased acidity also disrupts the activation of T-lymphocytes – cells that are an active component of most immunotherapy methods. This is perfectly consistent with the previously obtained data, according to which the use of baking soda increases the effectiveness of antitumor immunotherapy.
Researchers are very encouraged by the fact that such a simple and cheap substance as baking soda can increase the effectiveness of antitumor therapy. Currently, they are engaged in a detailed study of the effect of the acidity level on the effectiveness of immunotherapy and further deciphering the mechanisms of the acidity-induced resting state of cancer cells.
Article by Zandra E. Walton et al. Acid Suspends the Circadian Clock in Hypoxia through Inhibition of mTOR is published in the journal Cell.
Evgenia Ryabtseva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research: How might baking soda boost cancer therapy?