Could NAD+ Longevity Supplements Help Cancer Cells Survive? With Dr. Jordan Winter
NAD+ supplements have become a huge part of the longevity world. Compounds like NMN and NR are marketed for energy, cellular repair, and healthy aging.
But could some of the same things that help healthy cells survive also help cancer cells survive?
In this episode of Causes or Cures, Eeks talks with pancreatic cancer surgeon-scientist Dr. Jordan Winter about new research examining NAD+ precursors and pancreatic cancer.
The researchers studied three vitamin B3-related compounds that the body can use to make NAD+: nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), nicotinamide riboside (NR), and nicotinamide (NAM).
Eeks and Dr. Winter discuss what happened when researchers exposed pancreatic cancer cells to these compounds alongside chemotherapy drugs in the lab, what they found in mice, and why cancer is especially interesting when it comes to how cells use energy and respond to stress.
They also get into the bigger question raised by the research:
Something may be beneficial to healthy cells. But what happens when the cell we're helping is the one we're also trying to kill?
Importantly, this was preclinical research involving cells and mice, not a clinical trial in humans. Dr. Winter explains what the findings do and do not tell us about people taking NAD+-boosting supplements during cancer treatment.
Dr. Jordan Winter is a pancreatic cancer surgeon-scientist, Professor of Surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and Chief of Surgical Oncology at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. His research focuses on how pancreatic cancer cells survive in the unusually harsh, nutrient-poor environment surrounding tumors and whether those survival mechanisms can reveal new targets for treatment. He trained in surgery and pancreatic cancer research at Johns Hopkins and completed a surgical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
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