Yeast dietary supplement may offer safe nutritional strategy to boost cancer immunity
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin (UCD), working in a mouse model, have shown for the first time that a food supplement made from yeast helps the body to make stronger immune cells that can fight cancer.
The research teams found that adding a yeast-based supplement to the food of obese laboratory mice changes how their immune cells grow and helps to make better cancer‑fighting cells.
Being overweight can weaken the immune system, making it harder for the body to fight tumours. The yeast supplement helps to fix this problem. This means that yeast-based supplements could become a safe and natural way to help the immune system fight cancer more effectively.
The findings of the research study have been published in the scientific journal, Cell Reports. The work was led by Frederick Sheedy, Associate Professor in Immunology in Trinity’s School of Biochemistry and Immunology, and Helen Roche, Professor in Nutrigenomics, UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science and Director of the UCD Conway Institute.
Dr Anna Ledwith, postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Roche’s group and first author of the research paper said: “We wanted to investigate whether a common dietary supplement, yeast beta-glucan, could reprogramme early-stage immune cells in the bone marrow to produce long-lasting, enhanced anti-tumour immune responses.
“Mice were fed a standard or high fat diet supplemented with yeast beta-glucan for 4-12 weeks and then their immune system was challenged by different types of cancer cells, colorectal, skin and breast cancer. The study also tested whether yeast supplementation could overcome immune dysfunction caused by obesity and whether protective effects persist after weight loss.”
Commenting on the significance of the findings, Prof. Roche added: “This is the first demonstration that dietary delivery of yeast beta-glucan is sufficient to induce trained immunity through reprogramming of bone marrow stem cells. Previous research required injections.
“Crucially, this dietary intervention restores anti-tumour innate immunity in obese mice and reverses long-term immune memory defects that persist even after weight loss, a major unmet clinical challenge.”
What is the potential impact of this research?
Obesity affects millions of people worldwide and profoundly disrupts the immune system, increasing the risk of infections and cancer. Even after weight loss, immune defects persist.
At the same time, cancer remains a leading cause of death globally. There is an urgent need for safe, accessible strategies to restore immune function. Yeast beta-glucan is already used as a food supplement and has an excellent safety record, making it a realistic candidate for clinical translation.
Looking to the future, Professor Sheedy said: “This research paves the way for dietary intervention studies in people living with obesity, chronic infections and other immunocompromised populations. The yeast beta-glucan used, WellmuneTM, from Kerry Group, is already food-grade and commercially available, facilitating rapid clinical trials.
“Ultimately, a simple dietary supplement could help boost the immune system’s cancer fighting ability, complementing existing treatments such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy, with the potential to improve vaccine responses and resistance to infection.”
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