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Mannose may inhibit prostate cancer | Animal data
Supplementing with mannose, a monosaccharide similar to fructose, may inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells, suggests a Chinese animal and in vitro study published in 2022 in the Asian Journal of Andrology.
Study
Chinese researchers, affiliated with Southern Medical University, implanted human DU-145 cancer cells into male nude mice. DU-145 cells were once found in a man with metastatic prostate cancer that did not respond to anti-androgens.
The researchers gave some of the mice frequent doses of mannose via the oral route. The human equivalent of the dose used was about 6-8 grams of mannose per day. This is about twice as much as supplement makers recommend.
Mannose
Mannose is marketed as a supplement for urinary tract infections. Pathogens such as the bacteria Escherichia coli normally attach themselves to mannose molecules in the epithelium of the bladder and ureter.
According to this theory, if you ingest a lot of mannose, the pathogens mistakenly attach themselves to the loose mannose molecules in the urine - and you excrete the buggers through the urine. [Urol Res. 1985;13(2):79-84.]
Mannose has a chemical structure that resembles that of fructose and galactose. In a way, mannose also resembles glucose a bit.
Results
In the mice that received mannose [MAN], during the 6 weeks after implantation, the tumors grew 50 percent less quickly than in the mice in the control group [NC].
In the tumors, the researchers found less of the energy molecule ATP, as the figure above right shows.
Mechanism
In the cancer cells, mannose disrupted the functioning of the mitochondria, the researchers discovered in in vitro studies. As a result, the concentration of harmful and aggressive substances in the cancer cells increased, the production of energy by the cells decreased and suicide genes became active in the cancer cells.
PC3 = another type of prostate cancer cell. Also human, also insensitive to androgens, also metastasized.
Click on the figure below for a larger version.
Source:
Asian J Androl. 2022 Sep-Oct;24(5):540-8.
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