According to a new study‚ a molecule found in beef and dairy improves the immune response to cancer. “Scientists at UChicago discover that trans-vaccenic acid (TVA)‚ a fatty acid found in beef‚ lamb‚ and dairy products‚ improves the ability of immune cells to fight tumors‚” The University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division wrote Wednesday. The researchers determined that “cancer patients with higher levels of the compound in their blood responded better to treatment‚ suggesting that it could have major benefits as a nutritional supplement‚” Daily Mail reports. Blow to veganism? Nutrient found in beef and dairy helps fight cancerhttps://t.co/XedkQLBDi5 — Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2023) November 24‚ 2023 WATCH: Scientists have found eating beef and dairy products could help our immune system kill some cancers. The fatty acid produced by grazing animals improves the ability of certain cells to infiltrate tumours. https://t.co/TWh1KQh9q4 #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/L12HjAKlgv — 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) November 24‚ 2023 “The research‚ published this week in Nature‚ also shows that patients with higher levels of TVA circulating in the blood responded better to immunotherapy‚ suggesting that it could have potential as a nutritional supplement to complement clinical treatments for cancer‚” The University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division stated. “There are many studies trying to decipher the link between diet and human health‚ and it’s very difficult to understand the underlying mechanisms because of the wide variety of foods people eat. But if we focus on just the nutrients and metabolites derived from food‚ we begin to see how they influence physiology and pathology‚” said Jing Chen‚ PhD‚ the Janet Davison Rowley Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine at UChicago and one of the senior authors of the new study. “By focusing on nutrients that can activate T cell responses‚ we found one that actually enhances anti-tumor immunity by activating an important immune pathway‚” Chen added. From The University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division: Chen’s lab focuses on understanding how metabolites‚ nutrients and other molecules circulating in the blood influence the development of cancer and response to cancer treatments. For the new study‚ two postdoctoral fellows‚ Hao Fan‚ PhD and Siyuan Xia‚ PhD‚ both co-first authors‚ assembled a “blood nutrient” compound library consisting of 255 bioactive molecules derived from nutrients. They screened the compounds in this new library for their ability to influence anti-tumor immunity by activating CD8+ T cells‚ a group of immune cells critical for killing cancerous or virally infected cells. After the scientists evaluated the top six candidates in both human and mouse cells‚ they saw that TVA performed the best. TVA is the most abundant trans fatty acid present in human milk‚ but the body cannot produce it on its own. Only about 20% of TVA is broken down into other byproducts‚ leaving 80% circulating in the blood. “That means there must be something else it does‚ so we started working on it more‚” Chen said. The researchers then conducted a series of experiments with cells and mouse models of diverse tumor types. Feeding mice a diet enriched with TVA significantly reduced the tumor growth potential of melanoma and colon cancer cells compared to mice fed a control diet. The TVA diet also enhanced the ability of CD8+ T cells to infiltrate tumors. The team also performed a series of molecular and genetic analyses to understand how TVA was affecting the T cells. These included a new technique for monitoring transcription of single-stranded DNA called kethoxal-assisted single-stranded DNA sequencing‚ or KAS-seq‚ developed by Chuan He‚ PhD‚ the John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry at UChicago and another senior author of the study. These additional assays‚ done by both the Chen and He labs‚ showed that TVA inactivates a receptor on the cell surface called GPR43 which is usually activated by short-chain fatty acids often produced by gut microbiota. TVA overpowers these short-chain fatty acids and activates a cellular signaling process known as the CREB pathway‚ which is involved in a variety of functions including cellular growth‚ survival‚ and differentiation. The team also showed that mouse models where the GPR43 receptor was exclusively removed from CD8+ T cells also lacked their improved tumor fighting ability. Eating beef staves off cancer!! pic.twitter.com/QeeliWuiWX — Dr Shawn Baker (@SBakerMD) November 22‚ 2023 Daily Mail reports: Fatty cuts of beef and lamb are more likely to have higher levels of TVA compared to lean cuts‚ as are whole milk and full-fat dairy products compared to low-fat and skim. The anti-cancer power of the dairy-derived fatty acid comes from its ability to turbocharge certain immune cells known as T cells‚ which recognize foreign invaders and prompt the immune system to kill them. Researchers said that eating foods rich in this compound or giving it to cancer patients as a supplement could have measurable benefits in decreasing the size of tumors. Dr Jing Chen‚ senior author of the study‚ said: ‘By focusing on nutrients that can activate T cell responses‚ we found one that actually enhances anti-tumor immunity by activating an important immune pathway.’ Her team identified the nutrient after combing through a database of around 700 different metabolites – substances produced when the body breaks down food – all of which came from food. Read the abstract for the study‚ titled “Trans-vaccenic acid reprograms CD8+ T cells and anti-tumour immunity‚” at Nature: Diet-derived nutrients are inextricably linked to human physiology by providing energy and biosynthetic building blocks and by functioning as regulatory molecules. However‚ the mechanisms by which circulating nutrients in the human body influence specific physiological processes remain largely unknown. Here we use a blood nutrient compound library-based screening approach to demonstrate that dietary trans-vaccenic acid (TVA) directly promotes effector CD8+ T cell function and anti-tumour immunity in vivo. TVA is the predominant form of trans-fatty acids enriched in human milk‚ but the human body cannot produce TVA endogenously1. Circulating TVA in humans is mainly from ruminant-derived foods including beef‚ lamb and dairy products such as milk and butter2‚3‚ but only around 19% or 12% of dietary TVA is converted to rumenic acid by humans or mice‚ respectively4‚5. Mechanistically‚ TVA inactivates the cell-surface receptor GPR43‚ an immunomodulatory G protein-coupled receptor activated by its short-chain fatty acid ligands6‚7‚8. TVA thus antagonizes the short-chain fatty acid agonists of GPR43‚ leading to activation of the cAMP–PKA–CREB axis for enhanced CD8+ T cell function. These findings reveal that diet-derived TVA represents a mechanism for host-extrinsic reprogramming of CD8+ T cells as opposed to the intrahost gut microbiota-derived short-chain fatty acids. TVA thus has translational potential for the treatment of tumours.