Vitamin B6 is beneficial in many ways, especially its role in maintaining a strong immune system. But when pancreatic cancer develops, its cells also need vitamin B6 to reproduce. In the ensuing tug-of-war over limited vitamin B6 supplies, pancreatic cancer almost always wins. Researchers at the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine are following a promising lead to reverse that reality.
Dr. Kamiya Mehla is an associate professor of oncology in the OU School of Medicine and an investigator in the OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center. Her research, which explores ways to boost the body’s immune system against invaders such as pancreatic cancer, has attracted the attention of funding agencies. In the past year, she secured her $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Defense.
In recent publications of magazines cancer discovery, Mehla details the role of vitamin B6 in healthy people and in those with pancreatic cancer. Vitamin B6 is found in a variety of foods, including chicken, fish, and bananas, and supports immune system cells such as natural killer (NK) cells, which are the first to respond to everything from cancer to the common cold. However, if you have pancreatic cancer, NK cells are significantly reduced. This is because cancer cells use up the vitamin B6 that NK cells need to do their job.
Pancreatic cancer is extremely difficult to treat, with a five-year survival rate of only 11% for those diagnosed. To develop new treatments, it is important for researchers to study pancreatic cancer from many different angles. In my lab, we focus on the role of vitamin B6 because we know that it strengthens the immune system, but we are learning more about how vitamin B6 affects cancer cells. Must be understood. We hope that our research will open new avenues for the development of new treatments for pancreatic cancer. ”
Dr. Kamiya Mehla, Associate Professor of Oncology, OU School of Medicine
In his lab, Mehra discovered that giving extra vitamin B6 had no effect on natural killer cells. Pancreatic cancer cells actually grow more when they receive additional nutrients. She studied what cancer cells do to deplete vitamin B6 and devised ways to thwart it. She eventually discovered her three-part strategy. Step 1 involves reducing the expression of specific genes to block the pathway by which cancers take up vitamin B6. The second step is to provide more vitamin B6, and the third step is to utilize treatments that increase NK cell function, such as tuning your car’s engine. When this strategy was tested in mice, it reduced the amount of pancreatic cancer cells.
“This discovery is encouraging,” Mehra said. “Knowing that is important because the immune system must be strong for other treatments, such as chemotherapy, to be effective. If the immune system is not working, the treatment will not work.” Its Role To fulfill. ”
Mr. Mehra plans to continue his research in this area and expand into related concerns. Because pancreatic cancer causes problems throughout the body trying to obtain more nutrients, she explains how a lack of vitamin B6 affects other organs, especially the liver, when cancer cells are present. I plan to research. She is also studying whether vitamin B6 deficiency contributes to the development of cachexia, a muscle-wasting condition that affects a large proportion of pancreatic cancer patients.
The Department of Defense is funding Mehra’s cachexia research. Because military personnel may be exposed to hazards such as radiation and chemical toxins, their risk of developing pancreatic cancer may increase as they age. In addition to cancer itself, cachexia also reduces the quality of life for many veterans, Mehra said.
“When a patient loses muscle this dramatically, they are less likely to respond to treatment,” she says. “Pancreatic cancer is a systemic disease. It doesn’t just sit there. It’s trying to extract nutrients from multiple areas to survive. That’s why we’re looking at a wide range of ways to stimulate the immune system against tumors. That is important.”
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Reference magazines:
He, C. other. (2024). Competition for vitamin B6 in the tumor microenvironment impedes the antitumor function of NK cells. cancer discovery. doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.cd-23-0334.
