A new and compelling breakthrough in cancer research has found that a single amino acid commonly found in everyday food items can potentially be the answer to halting the spread of a deadly type of breast cancer.
The study published in the medical journal Nature pinpoints that limiting consumption of asparagine — an amino acid found naturally in dairy, poultry, beef, fish, seafood, and whole grain, can effectively hinder the ability of cancer cells to travel to various parts of the body.
Investigators tested the findings on mice afflicted with triple negative breast cancer, a form of cancer that grows and spreads faster than most types of cancer cells.
The treatment resulted in a significant drop of secondary tumors, solidifying the initial findings.
In an interview with MedicalXpress, Simon Knott, PhD, associate director of the Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics at Cedars-Sinai and one of the primary instigators of the paper shared that this particular study is part of a growing body of evidence that suggests diet is a key factor in the spread of diseases.
Meanwhile, lead scientist Prof Greg Hannon, director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute expressed caution.
As reported by The Guardian, Hannon emphasized that even though this case shows how a change in diet impacts the progression of lethal diseases, it is in no way a "D-I-Y" cure to prevent cancer.
The proponents of the research said that after the tests on mice, the treatment could possibly be used in humans in the near future wherein patients will be put under a strict regimen free of the protein.
Investigators also disclosed that studying the effects of this particular compound could prove to be beneficial toward treating other forms of cancer.
The American Cancer Society reported that new cases of cancer reached 1,688,780 last year in the United States alone, while the number of deaths tallied 600,920.
