Ovarian Cancer Cells Surviving Chemo Release Fructose, Study Finds
Ovarian cancer cells that survive chemo release fructose that loosens tumor bonds in preclinical tests, Wistar Institute researchers report.
Ovarian cancer cells that survive chemotherapy can release fructose, a common sugar, and that sugar helps neighboring tumor cells break free, according to researchers at The Wistar Institute. The work was done in preclinical models and published in the journal Nature Aging (DOI 10.1038/s43587-026-01172-5).
The team also reported that a high-fructose diet comparable to the sugar in sweetened drinks promoted signals tied to cancer spread in its experiments, even without chemotherapy. None of this has been tested in patients.
Why does ovarian cancer spread after treatment?
Most patients with ovarian cancer receive platinum-based chemotherapy, which damages the DNA of cancer cells so they cannot reproduce. Many respond at first, but the cancer eventually returns in most cases and often spreads through the abdominal cavity. That spread, called metastasis, accounts for approximately 90% of ovarian cancer deaths, according to the Wistar summary.
Earlier studies had suggested that cells which survive chemotherapy without dividing still contribute to recurrence, partly by releasing a mix of substances that change how nearby cells behave.
How did the researchers find fructose?
First author Aidan Cole, a postdoctoral fellow in Katherine Aird’s lab, and colleagues designed an experiment that separated the surviving cancer cells from the molecules they released. In a preclinical model, the released substances alone, without the cells, significantly increased cancer spread. Cole said that as far as the team knows, this is the first time that has been shown outside a dish.
The team then looked for the responsible molecule and found fructose. It occurs naturally in fruit and honey and is a component of table sugar and high fructose corn syrup. The surviving cells produced fructose and released it into their surroundings, where it acted as a chemical messenger rather than only an energy source.
To learn what fructose does inside neighboring cells, the researchers used several methods, including a CRISPR screen, which lets scientists test genes systematically to see which ones affect a cellular process. Fructose suppressed cholesterol production. Cholesterol is a component of cell membranes and helps maintain the connections that hold neighboring cells together. With less cholesterol, those connections weakened and cells detached more easily.
What did the experiments show about statins?
Because fructose appeared to act by lowering cholesterol production, the team tested statins, drugs that reduce the body’s cholesterol production. About 39 million people in the United States take them. In the experiments, statins alone weakened the connections between cancer cells and made it easier for the cells to separate.
The researchers say this has not been shown in patients and is not a reason for anyone to stop prescribed statins. Aird, senior author and a professor at Wistar, said the effect has not been tested in patients but raises questions about combining cholesterol-lowering drugs with chemotherapy, since ovarian cancer is most common in postmenopausal women who are often already on statins.
What this means for patients and for other cancers
The authors say they do not know whether eating less fructose would improve outcomes in ovarian cancer, and the findings do not establish that eating sugar makes cancer spread in people. They note that high fructose corn syrup can account for approximately 8% to 20% of daily calories in some people in the United States, and that dietary intake, unlike many cancer factors, can be changed. Additional research is needed before any dietary recommendations could follow from this mechanism.
The group suspects the same process may occur in other cancers that spread within the torso. “We can’t call it universal yet,” Aird said. Aird and Cole have begun designing experiments to test pancreatic, colon, liver and other cancers.
The Wistar Institute provided the material for the summary distributed by ScienceDaily.
Source: ScienceDaily
