According to new research, creatine “supercharges a critical class of immune cells that activate and prepare the body’s key cancer-fighters.”
The study built on earlier research showing that “creatine powers killer T cells in their battle against tumors;” this new study discovered that “creatine also fuels dendritic cells, specialized immune cells that capture tumor fragments and direct killer T cells to attack.”
Only about 20-40% of patients respond to cancer immunotherapies that target T cells directly. Bolstering the dendritic cells that train and activate T cells is a potential avenue to bring those benefits to more patients. The research team “grew and studied dendritic cells that had been engineered to lack the creatine transporter [elevated inside tumors] entirely.” T cells grown alongside those cells produced “fewer of the signaling molecules needed to fight cancer.”
Giving daily creatine injections to mouse models of melanoma “significantly slowed tumor growth and boosted both the abundance and the activation of tumor-infiltrating dendritic cells.” Creatine supplementation “raised intracellular ATP levels in dendritic cells — ATP is the energy currency cells use to power virtually every function — and sustained the key inflammatory signaling pathways needed for activation.”
The findings “point to creatine as a potential tool for strengthening the immune system's anti-cancer response at multiple levels, including the cells that detect the threat and set the response in motion.”
