High-risk MDS stem cells depended on an NAD recycling enzyme in lab models; healthy blood stem cells were less dependent

What the research found

Study (patient-derived cells and animal models). Sweta B. Patel, Eric M. Pietras, Craig T. Jordan, and colleagues report in Blood Cancer Discovery (2026; 7(5):796; doi 10.1158/2643-3230.BCD-25-0498; ScienceDaily 2 October 2026). High-risk myelodysplastic syndrome stem cells relied more than healthy blood-forming stem cells on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), through the salvage enzyme NAMPT. Blocking NAMPT dropped NAD and weakened the disease-driving cells; healthy blood-forming stem cells compensated more easily. The same pattern showed up in patient-derived cells and in animals. MDS can cause severe anemia, infections, and transfusions, and high-risk disease can become acute myeloid leukemia. The release says MDS occurs mainly in older adults and that about 10,000 to 20,000 people are diagnosed in the United States each year. It does not give the ages of the samples used. The authors plan to study NAMPT-blocking drugs in people. This is a cancer-cell vulnerability, not evidence that an NAD pill helps or hurts. Educational notes. This is not a reason to start an NAD product.

Evidence level: Human study. A study in people, but an association isn't proof of cause.

Read the original at University of Colorado Anschutz / Blood Cancer Discovery