An improved version of a yeast - derived drug called DON could block cancer cells from producing glutamine ( which is important for metabolism ) without the severe side effects of its 1950s predecessor , researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore have found . When DON was administered to patients with colon cancer , the tumours shrank and almost disappeared compared with a 5x growth in tumors in the control group . In addition , T cells — important in destroying cancer cells — were able to switch to alternative sources of raw materials , whereas tumour cells could not .
An updated version of a bacteria-derived compound called DON could block cancer cells from using glutamine (which is important for metabolism) without the severe side effects of its 1950s predecessor, researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore have found. When DON was administered to mice with colon cancer, the tumours shrank and almost disappeared compared with a 5x growth in tumours in the control group. In addition, T cells—important in destroying cancer cells—were able to switch to alternative sources of raw materials, whereas tumour cells could not.