High-Salt Diet May Worsen Brain Tumors, New Research Warns (Image supported by ChatGPT)
DAEJEON, South Korea, June 2 (Korea Bizwire) – A team of researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has uncovered compelling evidence that a high-salt diet may accelerate the progression of brain tumors by disrupting gut microbiota and altering metabolic signaling pathways.
In findings published on May 22 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Professor Heung-Kyu Lee and his team from KAIST’s Department of Biological Sciences demonstrated that mice fed a high-salt diet for four weeks showed significantly lower survival rates and increased tumor growth compared to those on standard diets after glioblastoma cells were introduced.
The study further confirmed the connection through fecal microbiota transplants: when germ-free mice were colonized with gut bacteria from humans who consumed high-salt diets, the mice exhibited similar tumor-aggravating effects, suggesting a microbiome-mediated mechanism.
At the center of this mechanism is the gut bacterium Bacteroides vulgatus, which proliferates under high-salt conditions and promotes the production of propionate, a metabolite that disrupts cellular oxygen sensing in brain tumor cells.
This pseudo-hypoxic signaling stimulates the production of TGF-β (transforming growth factor-beta), a protein that facilitates tumor progression and metastasis.
Genetic analysis of glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive and fatal forms of brain cancer, revealed that patient tumor cells exhibit gene expression patterns similar to those observed in the salt-fed mice—validating the experimental model.
“This study identifies, at the molecular level, how a high-salt diet can reprogram the gut microbiome to worsen brain tumors,” said Professor Lee. “It paves the way for future research into dietary interventions and microbiome-based therapies for brain cancer patients.”
The research was supported by KAIST and highlights the growing importance of the gut-brain axis in understanding cancer progression.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
