Overview
- Researchers from a European consortium report that widely used steroid drugs dramatically alter how glioblastoma cells process vitamin B3 (niacin).
- Combining steroid treatment with dietary strategies that limit the amino acid methionine slowed tumour growth in preclinical laboratory and animal models.
- Scientists describe the shift in vitamin B3 metabolism as a previously hidden vulnerability that could inform future diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.
- The project included the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute in Glasgow and received partial funding from Cancer Research UK, according to spokesperson Sam Godfrey.
- Glioblastoma remains a fast-growing cancer with few effective options, and experts stress that the new findings are not yet a clinical treatment or diet recommendation.