Scientists at the University of Minnesota have found a new way to make cancer treatment more effective by using the body’s natural defenses—natural killer cells.
These special immune cells help fight off disease, including cancer.
The researchers discovered that treating these cells with vitamin B3, also known as nicotinamide, can make them much better at finding and destroying cancer cells.
Natural killer cells have been used before to treat blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, but the results haven’t always been great. Some patients, especially those whose other treatments didn’t work, didn’t see much benefit. Doctors needed a better way to help these cells do their job.
That’s where vitamin B3 comes in. It’s a vitamin that most people already know is important for turning food into energy. But in this study, it did something even more impressive.
The scientists treated the natural killer cells with vitamin B3 in the lab. This boosted the cells’ ability to survive longer, find cancer cells, and kill them more effectively.
Even better, the researchers combined these boosted cells with another cancer drug. In a group of 30 patients, the combo treatment was safe and showed promising results. Among 19 people with a hard-to-treat form of lymphoma, 11 had a full recovery and three had a partial recovery—all within just 28 days.
Vitamin B3 has been known for its health benefits for a long time. In the 1930s, scientists discovered that a lack of this vitamin caused a disease called pellagra, which led to serious problems like dementia and skin issues. Adding vitamin B3 to the diet helped prevent that disease.
In this new study, vitamin B3 didn’t just give the natural killer cells more energy—it also protected them from damage. This helped the cells survive longer and gave them more time to fight cancer.
What’s next? The researchers plan to test this treatment in more patients through larger clinical trials. If those tests go well, this new method could become a powerful tool for treating tough blood cancers.
If you care about cancer, please read studies about a new method to treat cancer effectively, and this low-dose, four-drug combo may block cancer spread.
For more information about cancer prevention, please see recent studies about nutrient in fish that can be a poison for cancer, and results showing this daily vitamin is critical to cancer prevention.
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