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Not such a 'simple' sugar: Glucose may be important in the fight against cancer

Date:
May 30, 2017
Source:
Trinity College Dublin
Summary:
Scientists have just discovered that glucose, the most important fuel used in our bodies, also plays a vital role in the immune response. Targeting glucose-controlled systems in the body thus offers an exciting new option for regulating this response.
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A new role for glucose -- commonly referred to as a 'simple' sugar -- has been discovered in the fight against cancer and inflammatory disease. Scientists have found that cells working on the front line in the fight against tumours and infection are better at stimulating immune responses when starved of glucose.

Glucose, which is generated from the food that we eat, is the most important fuel used in our bodies as our cells use it to generate energy and for growth and division. The cells of our immune system become very active during an immune response, such as when responding to infection, and as a result they tend to have high demands for glucose. Unsurprisingly, when immune cells are starved of glucose, as might occur within tumours for instance, they become dysfunctional.

However, new research led by scientists at Trinity College Dublin shows that the immune cells that monitor our bodies for signs of danger (dendritic cells) are different: when they are starved of glucose, they actually become better at stimulating the vital players in the immune response (T lymphocytes).

The scientists believe this opens the door to new therapeutic possibilities to regulate immune responses to cancers and other immune-related diseases.

Ussher Assistant Professor in Cancer Biology, David Finlay, led the team whose work has just been published in leading international journal, Nature Communications.

Dr Finlay said: "It is becoming clear that glucose is an important signaller in our immune system, in that cells that have access to glucose behave very differently to those that do not. We have discovered that dendritic cells are actually better at stimulating immune responses when starved of glucose, which is not the case for any of the other immune cells that have been analysed."

"The discovery that T cells and dendritic cells compete with each other for glucose offers a new and exciting insight into how glucose can regulate dendritic cell function. We hope that by better understanding how nutrients such as glucose control the immune response, we can go on to develop new therapies to tackle a host of debilitating immune-related diseases."


Story Source:

Materials provided by Trinity College Dublin. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Simon J. Lawless, Nidhi Kedia-Mehta, Jessica F. Walls, Ryan McGarrigle, Orla Convery, Linda V. Sinclair, Maria N. Navarro, James Murray, David K. Finlay. Glucose represses dendritic cell-induced T cell responses. Nature Communications, 2017; 8: 15620 DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS15620

Cite This Page:

Trinity College Dublin. "Not such a 'simple' sugar: Glucose may be important in the fight against cancer." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 May 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170530115125.htm>.
Trinity College Dublin. (2017, May 30). Not such a 'simple' sugar: Glucose may be important in the fight against cancer. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170530115125.htm
Trinity College Dublin. "Not such a 'simple' sugar: Glucose may be important in the fight against cancer." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170530115125.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

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