Could Saccharin Help Fight Aggressive Cancers?

New research finds that saccharin could be useful as a lead compound in targeting aggressive cancers.

A team of investigators from the University of Florida have used X-ray crystallography to examine atomic and molecular structures, in an effort to determine how saccharin—commonly found in sugar-free products that are used to sweeten hot beverages—binds to the protein carbonic anhydrase IX. The team, led by Robert McKenna, PhD, a professor in the school’s department of biochemistry and molecular biology, also examined the ways saccharin or saccharin-based compounds may be altered to improve their binding capabilities and evaluated its possible utility as a lead compound in the fight against cancer.
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The team is currently testing how saccharin and saccharin-based compounds impact breast and liver cancer cells, and notes that it has potential use in the development of new anti-cancer drugs, as a result of the way it binds to and deactivates carbonic anhydrase IX, which is found in some aggressive cancers and actually aids the spreading of cancers in the brain, breast, lungs, pancreas, and kidneys, for example. If these tests prove successful, the authors say they may move ahead with animal studies.

“Although the results of these findings may seem very promising, this is all still very preliminary,” says Brian Mahon, a graduate research assistant at the University of Florida, and a co-author of the study.

That said, “we are not recommending [that] primary care practitioners tell their patients suffering from aggressive cancers to implement saccharin into their diets,” adds Mahon. “We are very hopeful that there will be benefits from our results. However, we need to [conduct] much more research, and at this time we are simply not sure.”

The findings from the study were initially presented at the 249th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, held March 22 - 26 in Denver, Colo.

—Mark McGraw