According to the study published in the Journal Nature, limiting the intake of foods rich in asparagine including poultry, eggs, fish, nuts, soy, whole grains and dairy, while increasing the intake of fresh fruits and vegetables may potentially help stop the spread of breast cancer. Asparagine is an amino acid, the building blocks that cells use to make proteins. The findings of the study showed that limiting amino acid asparagine in laboratory mice with triple negative breast cancer dramatically reduced the ability of the cancer to travel to distant sites in the body.
"Our study adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests diet can influence the course of the disease," said lead author Simon Knott, Associate Director at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre -- a US-based non-profit.
"This study may have implications not only for breast cancer, but for many metastatic cancers," added Ravi Thadhani, from the varsity. In the study, the team of researchers discovered that the appearance of asparagine synthetase- the enzyme cells used to make asparagine, in a primary tumour was strongly associated with cancer growth later.
"The study suggests that changes in diet might impact both how an individual responds to primary therapy and their chances of lethal disease spreading later in life," said Gregory J. Hannon, professor at the University of Cambridge in England.
Researchers are now looking to conduct an early-phase clinical trial in which healthy participants would consume low-asparagine diet. If the findings are confirmed in human cells, limiting the amount of asparagine cancer patients ingest could be a potential strategy to augment existing therapies and to prevent the spread of breast cancer.
With Inputs from IANS