Popular dietary supplements can lead to cancer risk and brain metastases

While previous studies have shown that commercial dietary supplements like nicotinamide riboside (a type of vitamin B3) have benefits for cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurological health, a new study from the University of Missouri found that NR actually increases the risk of serious diseases, including cancer
.

An international team of researchers led by Elena Goun, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Michigan, found that high levels of NR not only increase the risk of triple-negative breast cancer, but also cause the cancer to metastasize or spread to the brain
.
Goun, the corresponding author of the study, said that once the cancer reaches the brain, the outcome is fatal because there are no viable treatment options
at this time.

"Some people take vitamins and supplements because they take them for granted that they only have positive health benefits, but little is known about how they actually work
," Goun said.
Due to the lack of knowledge, we were inspired to start looking at the fundamental question of
how vitamins and supplements work in the body.
”

Her 59-year-old father died three months after being diagnosed with colon cancer
.
His father's death led Goun to pursue a better scientific understanding
of cancer metabolism, the energy that cancer travels through the body.
Since NR is a supplement known to help boost cellular energy levels, which cancer cells access by increasing metabolism, Goun wanted to investigate the role of
NR in cancer development and spread.

"Our work is particularly important
given the broad commercial availability of NR and the large number of ongoing human clinical trials," Goun said.
In these trials, NR was used to mitigate the side effects
of cancer treatment.
”

The researchers used this technique to compare and examine the amount of NR in
cancer cells, T cells, and healthy tissue.

"While NR has been widely used in humans and studied in many ongoing clinical trials for more applications, how NR works is largely a black box — it's not understood
," Goun said.
Therefore, this inspired us to propose this novel imaging technique based on ultrasensitive bioluminescence imaging that can quantify NR levels
in real time in a non-invasive manner.
The light will show the presence of NR, and the brighter the light, the more
NR.
”

Goun said the study's findings underscore the importance of carefully investigating the potential side effects of
supplements like NR before using them for people who may have different health conditions.
In the future, Goun hopes to provide information that could lead to the development of certain inhibitors that could help make cancer therapies such as chemotherapy more effective in treating cancer
.
Goun says the key to this approach is to look at it
from a personalized medicine perspective.

Goun said: "Not all cancers are the same in everyone, especially from the point of view
of metabolic characteristics.
Often, cancers even change their metabolism
before and after chemotherapy.
”