May 10, 2024

This Sugar Kills Honeybees – It Could Also Be Our Secret Weapon Against Cancer

New research study performed by Sanford Burnham Prebys and the Osaka International Cancer Institute has exposed brand-new insights into the anti-cancer residential or commercial properties of mannose. Mannose is a vital sugar involved in a number of physiological processes in the human body, and it is known to prevent the development of cancer cells. The study, published today (July 18) in the journal eLife, suggests that mannose could act as an important adjunctive treatment for cancer.
Mannose is a type of sugar that the body attaches to proteins. This procedure, understood as glycosylation, is crucial for life, and any breakdowns in glycosylation are connected with unusual, but often serious dangerous, human diseases.

Hudson Freeze, Ph.D. Credit: Sanford Burnham Prebys
Function of Mannose in Glycosylation
Mannose is a kind of sugar that the body attaches to proteins. This procedure assists stabilize their structure and facilitates their interaction with other particles. This process, called glycosylation, is crucial for life, and any malfunctions in glycosylation are related to uncommon, but often serious deadly, human illness.
” Until now, the most promising therapeutic use for mannose was to treat genetic conditions of glycosylation, illness that can trigger a vast array of severe symptoms throughout the body,” says Freeze. “But our company believe that there may be ways to take advantage of mannose versus cancer and other illness also.”
Mannose, Honeybees, and Cancer
Although it has actually already been developed that mannose hinders the growth of a number of kinds of cancer in the laboratory, the underlying system stays elusive. To resolve this, the research study group studied an unusual home of mannose observed in an unlikely subject: honeybees.
” Its been known for more than a century that mannose is deadly to honeybees since they cant process it like human beings do– its referred to as honeybee syndrome,” states Freeze. “We wished to see if there is any relationship in between honeybee syndrome and the anti-cancer residential or commercial properties of mannose, which could lead to a totally brand-new method to combat cancer.”
Future implications and speculative findings
The research team, using genetically crafted human cancer cells from fibrosarcoma (a rare cancer affecting connective tissue), handled to reproduce honeybee syndrome. They discovered that in the lack of the enzyme needed to metabolize mannose, cells duplicate slowly and end up being substantially more prone to chemotherapy.
” We discovered that triggering honeybee syndrome in these cancer cells made them not able to manufacture the building blocks of DNA and replicate normally,” says Freeze. “This assists explain the anti-cancer impacts of mannose that have weve observed in the lab.”
While exploiting honeybee syndrome could possibly act as an appealing auxiliary cancer treatment, the researchers caution that because the effect is reliant on crucial metabolic procedures, more research study is required to figure out which types of cancer would be most responsive to mannose.
The Potential of Glycosylating Sugars for Cancer Treatment
” If we can discover cancers that have a low activity of the enzyme that processes mannose, treating them with mannose could give simply enough of a nudge to make chemotherapy more reliable,” states Freeze. “Many individuals presume that you constantly discover treatments in response to the illness, but sometimes you find biology that could be useful for treatment and after that have to discover the illness to match it.”
The study highlights the more comprehensive potential of sugars involved in glycosylation for cancer treatment, an area of research study still in its nascent phases.
” The glycobiology of sugar metabolic process within cancer cells is still an unexplored frontier, and it might be an untapped gold mine of possible treatments just waiting to be discovered,” adds Freeze.
Recommendation: “Metabolic clogging of mannose activates dNTP loss and genomic instability in human cancer cells” by Yoichiro Harada, Yu Mizote, Takehiro Suzuki, Akiyoshi Hirayama, Satsuki Ikeda, Mikako Nishida, Toru Hiratsuka, Ayaka Ueda, Yusuke Imagawa, Kento Maeda, Yuki Ohkawa, Junko Murai, Hudson H Freeze, Eiji Miyoshi, Shigeki Higashiyama, Heiichiro Udono, Naoshi Dohmae, Hideaki Tahara and Naoyuki Taniguchi, 18 July 2023, eLife.DOI: 10.7554/ eLife.83870.
Extra authors on the research study consist of Yoichiro Harada, Yu Mizote, Toru Hiratsuka, Yusuke Imagawa, Kento Maeda, Yuki Ohkawa, Shigeki Higashiyama, Hideaki Tahara and Naoyuki Taniguchi, Osaka International Cancer Institute; Takehiro Suzuki and Naoshi Dohmae, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science; Akiyoshi Hirayama, Satsuki Ikeda and Junko Murai, Keio University; Mikako Nishida and Heiichiro Udono, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences; and Ayaka Ueda and Eiji Miyoshi, Osaka University.
The research study was supported by the Takeda Science Foundation, JSPS KAKENHI (JP23K06645), the Rocket Fund, and the National Institutes of Health (R01DK99551).

New research study has actually uncovered more about the anti-cancer residential or commercial properties of mannose, a sugar understood to inhibit cancer cell development. This research study suggests mannose could boost cancer treatment without adverse effects.
A brand-new study helps describe the anti-cancer properties of mannose sugar.
A study reveals brand-new insights about mannose, a sugar with anti-cancer properties. The research connects the “honeybee syndrome” observed in honeybees with mannoses capability to slow cancer cell replication and enhance chemotherapys efficiency.
New Research on Mannose and Its Anti-Cancer Properties
New research study carried out by Sanford Burnham Prebys and the Osaka International Cancer Institute has actually revealed new insights into the anti-cancer residential or commercial properties of mannose. Mannose is an important sugar involved in numerous physiological procedures in the body, and it is known to prevent the development of cancer cells. The study, released today (July 18) in the journal eLife, suggests that mannose could function as an important adjunctive treatment for cancer.
” This sugar might offer cancer an additional punch together with other treatments,” says research study co-author Hudson Freeze, Ph.D., director of the Human Genetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys. “And since mannose is discovered throughout the body naturally, it might improve cancer treatment with no unfavorable adverse effects.”