Latest Study Suggests a Mix of Compounds That Includes NMN Enhances Immunity Against Cancer

Highlights

• Seventeen adults took a mix of nutraceuticals (known as AgePro) that included NMN twice daily for one month, which enhanced their immune cells’ killing of cancer cells by about 30%.
• Importantly, the AgePro-induced activation of anti-cancer immune cells only occurred in the presence of cancer cells, suggesting safety against autoimmunity.

Several naturally occurring compounds have shown life-extending properties in animal models, but the full spectrum of their mechanisms of action remains unclear. Furthermore, researchers still have not tested their full range of effects on improving aspects of physical function in human trials, leaving us to question whether they have significant effects on people.

Along those lines, Vollmer and colleagues from 4Life Research in Utah published a study in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences demonstrating that taking a group of compounds shown to work against aging in animals improves immunity, a crucial protector against aging. The mixture of compounds tested in the study consisted of nanofiltered colostrum (the first form of milk from a cow after birth), egg yolk extract, NMN, quercetin, ɑ-ketoglutarate, white button mushroom, and celery seed extract—collectively referred to as AgePro. Moreover, the enhanced immune cell-induced killing of cancer cells occurred for adults ranging from ages 23 to 89, suggesting that these compounds work across a wide range of ages. Importantly, the results showed that AgePro did not activate immune cells in the absence of cancer cells, suggesting safety and a low risk of autoimmunity after taking AgePro. These findings suggest that the mixture of these compounds enhances anti-cancer immunity safely, i.e., not activating immune cells against healthy cells.

The Mix of Compounds Enhances Immune Cell-Induced Death of Cancer Cells

Because declining immunity is a contributing aspect of aging, Vollmer and colleagues devised a way to test AgePro’s effects on immunity in 17 adults between the ages of 23 and 89. To do so, they gave the adults AgePro twice a day for one month. The researchers also extracted blood from the participants at the beginning of the month before taking AgePro and at the end of the month, after taking AgePro for 30 days.

Vollmer and colleagues then combined immune cells isolated from the participants’ blood with human leukemia cells in laboratory dishes. Interestingly, the researchers found that isolated immune cells obtained after AgePro treatment killed about 50% of the cancer cells. On the other hand, the participants’ immune cells extracted before the month of AgePro treatments killed only about 30% of the cancer cells. Comparing these two percentages, the findings suggest that, after taking the mixture of AgePro compounds for a month, the killing of cancer cells by immune cells increased by about 30%, at least in laboratory dishes.

Intriguingly, the enhanced killing of cancer cells by the immune cells occurred for adults across the ages tested. This observation suggests that the mixture of compounds, which includes NMN, enhances anti-cancer immunity in aged as well as younger adults.

Moreover, a widespread activation of immune cells that attack cancer cells—known as natural killer cells—has been associated with autoimmunity, where immune cells attack healthy cells in the body. For this reason, Vollmer and colleagues tested whether natural killer cells from AgePro-treated participants exhibited signs of activation in the presence and absence of cancer cells. As expected, in the presence of cancer cells in the laboratory dishes, there were higher levels of proteins associated with natural killer immune cell activation. However, in the absence of cancer cells, there was no increase in proteins associated with immune cell activation. These findings support a low probability that the AgePro mixture of compounds will induce NK cell overactivation and autoimmunity, suggesting safety for the mix.

Determining Whether the Combination of Compounds Actually Improves Anti-Cancer Immunity in People

There are a few issues with this study. First, it remains unclear what compound(s) in AgePro may have contributed to anti-cancer immunity. Second, whether immune cells would show enhanced killing of cancer cells in the body after taking AgePro remains an open question.

To address the first issue, what compound(s) in AgePro may confer enhanced immunity against cancer, some research suggests that NMN suppresses lung cancer in mice. Thus, it is possible that the NMN in AgePro conferred enhanced immunity against the leukemia cancer cells. However, other human trials using only NMN supplementation and the same overall study protocol would be necessary to uncover whether NMN is critical to boosting anti-cancer immunity. Furthermore, similar trials with Vollmer and colleagues’ protocol could be done using other individual compounds from AgePro to test their efficacy in enhancing anti-cancer immunity.

As for the second issue, whether these findings of improved immunity against cancer apply to living humans, only trials with cancer patients could provide evidence of an association. In that regard, trials of human cancer patients would need to test whether taking AgePro is associated with cancer suppression. Furthermore, in their study, Vollmer and colleagues isolated immune cells from participant blood before and after AgePro treatment and tested their effects against cancer cells in laboratory dishes. This laboratory dish model may not accurately represent what would happen in the body, especially since the ratios of immune cells to cancer cells used in the dishes may not be present in blood circulation.

For example, about 50% of the cancer cells were killed when the immune cell to cancer cell ratio was 50:1; however, this ratio between immune and cancer cells may not occur in the body. For that reason, while there may be some anti-cancer immunity-related effects from AgePro supplementation, the optimal ratios between cells used in this study may exaggerate them.

All the same, even a small boost in immunity against cancer from AgePro suggests that the combination of these molecules enhances immune cell function. In that sense, further research should be done to find whether an individual compound in AgePro, like ɑ-ketoglutarate, boosts immunity or whether the combination of these compounds additively enhances immunity. If the AgePro components additively enhance immunity, then it may be worth taking multiple aging intervention compounds for optimal benefits.