NAD+ ⇒ The role of NAD+ in promoting cancer??!

[peony76]

Hi, has anyone come across alarming information like this? For someone like me who is quite new to NMN and NAD+ (I've yet to receive the delivery), this is going against everything I read about the benefits

"In a Nature Cell Biology study in February scientists reported a newly discovered role for NAD+ metabolism at the intersection of cellular aging and cancer—specifically, in a process called cellular senescence. Senescence occurs when aging, damaged cells stop dividing. The process can help suppress cancer, but it leads cells to produce inflammatory molecules that can also promote cancer growth under certain conditions. In the Nature Cell Biology study, Rugang Zhang of the Wistar Institute, and his colleagues found that in cells entering senescence, rising levels of NAMPT (a major NAD+-producing enzyme in mammals) encourage the release of inflammatory and potentially protumor molecules. Consistent with those findings, mice genetically predisposed toward pancreatic cancer developed more precancerous and cancerous growths when they consumed the NAD+ precursor NMN. Zhang says more research is needed to fully understand the role of NAD+ in cancer, but he adds that “we should be cautious and bear in mind the potential downside of NAD+ supplementation as a dietary approach for antiaging.”

Zhang’s work is part of a growing body of research that has drawn attention to NAD+ metabolism in cancer, particularly involving NAMPT. Compared with healthy tissues, elevated NAMPT levels have been reported in several human cancers including colorectal, ovarian, breast and prostate cancers. In studies in animals and cells, drugs that inhibit NAMPT have shown promise in killing cancer cells or enhancing the effectiveness of other cancer therapies."

Full article here:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... pplements/

Regards,
Emily

[jocko6889]

Hi, has anyone come across alarming information like this? For someone like me who is quite new to NMN and NAD+ (I've yet to receive the delivery), this is going against everything I read about the benefits

"In a Nature Cell Biology study in February scientists reported a newly discovered role for NAD+ metabolism at the intersection of cellular aging and cancer—specifically, in a process called cellular senescence. Senescence occurs when aging, damaged cells stop dividing. The process can help suppress cancer, but it leads cells to produce inflammatory molecules that can also promote cancer growth under certain conditions. In the Nature Cell Biology study, Rugang Zhang of the Wistar Institute, and his colleagues found that in cells entering senescence, rising levels of NAMPT (a major NAD+-producing enzyme in mammals) encourage the release of inflammatory and potentially protumor molecules. Consistent with those findings, mice genetically predisposed toward pancreatic cancer developed more precancerous and cancerous growths when they consumed the NAD+ precursor NMN. Zhang says more research is needed to fully understand the role of NAD+ in cancer, but he adds that “we should be cautious and bear in mind the potential downside of NAD+ supplementation as a dietary approach for antiaging.”

Zhang’s work is part of a growing body of research that has drawn attention to NAD+ metabolism in cancer, particularly involving NAMPT. Compared with healthy tissues, elevated NAMPT levels have been reported in several human cancers including colorectal, ovarian, breast and prostate cancers. In studies in animals and cells, drugs that inhibit NAMPT have shown promise in killing cancer cells or enhancing the effectiveness of other cancer therapies."

Full article here:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... pplements/

Regards,
Emily

Hi Emily, thanks for posting this new study. Actually, it's never been advocated taking NAD+ boosters if you have cancer out of an abundance of caution. From the study,

"Recent studies suggest that cancer cells of many types depend on NAD+ to sustain their rapid growth and that cutting off the NAD+ supply could be an effective strategy for killing certain cancers."

Well yes but ALL cells depend on NAD+, not just cancer cells! You would actually die within 20 seconds if you completely cutoff the supply of NAD+ to your body. NAD+ is needed to fuel the mitochondria, which in turn powers each cell in your body. Without it you simply could not function. So I'm sure what they meant is that if you could cut the supply of NAD+ to cancer cells ONLY, then yes of course the cancer cells would die. But that's the real problem, isn't it? How do you cut off the supply of NAD+ to cancer cells only?

The important distinction we need to make is that taking NAD+ boosters has never been shown to CAUSE cancer. There has always been the suspicion that it MAY accelerate existing cancer, therefore if you know you have or have had cancer (and it's in remission), it may not be advisable to take NAD+ boosters. For everyone else it's perfectly safe per phase I human trials already completed.

[peony76]

Thank you! I don’t think I have cancer - my life long mission is to prevent this. Perhaps I’ll get myself tested before starting on NMN and NAD+ just in case .
Best,
Emily

[Newage]

Thank you! I don’t think I have cancer - my life long mission is to prevent this. Perhaps I’ll get myself tested before starting on NMN and NAD+ just in case .
Best,
Emily

Yes.
Unfortunately for whatever reason, cancer doesn’t seem to choose favourites when deciding to infiltrate..

[canadahealthy]

I would tell anyone who would listen to assume you are at risk for some type of cancer, and I certainly beleive taking NMN everyday is a strong tool to fight it. But, yes if I was diagnosed with cancer, then NMN would be off limits.

I recall a certain product for eyesight, called Vitalux (in canada). It contain Lutein and other vitamins in a preparation to fight macular degeneration. After a while they realized that one or two of the vitamins was dangerous to give smokers.. it accelerated a type of cancer in smokers, so so had to develop one preparation for smokers and one for everyone else.

The other things we discuss here, Senoytics, and NAD+ precursors make me a lot more optimistic about keeping myself healthy and warding off cancer. I did smoke for about 16 years, and I eventually quit because the fear of cancer became a preoccupation.

For any other smokers... it took me 25 attempts, including some where i quit for over a year, 8 months, weeks, etc until i finally found my way. So i have no special resolve, other than i kept trying.