Creatine: A Popular Supplement In Gyms May Increase The Effectiveness Of Immunotherapy Against Cancer

Known for increasing strength and improving physical performance, creatine has just revealed an unexpected benefit. A new study shows that this supplement can provide extra energy to immune system cells responsible for identifying and fighting tumors, increasing the efficiency of immunotherapy against cancer and opening up a new possibility for future treatments.

Creatine is one of the most popular dietary supplements in the world. It is widely used by athletes, bodybuilders, and people who want to increase strength, improve physical performance, or accelerate recovery after exercise.

Its function is relatively simple: it helps muscle cells store and quickly supply energy when the body needs to perform intense efforts.

For many years, it was believed that this benefit was practically restricted to muscles. Now, a new study suggests that creatine may play another important role, this time helping the immune system itself to recognize and attack cancerous cells.

Researchers focused their attention on a very special type of immune cell known as a dendritic cell. Although little known to the public, these cells function as true "sentinels" of the body.

They circulate through tissues looking for signs of infection, inflammation, or abnormal cells. When they find a tumor cell, they capture small fragments of that tumor and present them to other cells of the immune system, mainly T lymphocytes, which are responsible for destroying diseased cells.

Without this initial recognition by dendritic cells, much of the immune response simply does not occur. This is why many modern cancer treatments, known as immunotherapies, depend directly on the proper functioning of these cells.

To understand whether creatine could influence this process, scientists conducted a series of experiments in the laboratory and on animals. First, they studied dendritic cells grown in the laboratory and observed that, when these cells were activated to respond to a possible tumor, they naturally increased the production of a protein responsible for transporting creatine into them.

This suggested that, during periods of high activity, these cells require a greater amount of this molecule to function properly. Next, the researchers used genetically modified mice that could not transport creatine into the dendritic cells. These animals showed a much weaker immune response, with difficulty activating other defense cells responsible for eliminating cancer.

In the next step, the team wanted to find out if providing extra creatine could produce the opposite effect. The researchers administered creatine supplementation to mice with melanoma, one of the most aggressive types of skin cancer.

The result was quite encouraging: the dendritic cells became more active, more efficiently stimulating the lymphocytes responsible for destroying the tumor and contributing to reducing cancer growth.

The scientists also repeated part of the experiments using dendritic cells produced from human blood cells. Again, creatine increased the ability of these cells to activate the immune response, indicating that the phenomenon is probably not restricted to mice.

But why does this happen?

The answer is related to energy. Just as muscles need energy to contract, immune system cells also require large amounts of energy to identify threats, produce inflammatory substances, and coordinate the attack against tumors.

Creatine acts as a kind of readily available energy reserve. It helps maintain levels of a molecule called adenosine triphosphate, known by the acronym ATP, which functions as the main "energy currency" of cells.

When researchers analyzed the metabolism of dendritic cells, they observed that those supplied with creatine were able to maintain higher levels of ATP, remaining active for longer and producing chemical signals capable of recruiting and stimulating other defense cells. In other words, creatine seemed to provide the necessary fuel for these cells to perform their functions more efficiently.

Although the results are quite promising, the researchers themselves issue an important warning. This study was conducted primarily on experimental models and human cells analyzed in the laboratory. This means that there is still insufficient evidence to recommend the use of creatine as a cancer treatment or as a complement to immunotherapy in patients.

Before that happens, clinical studies will be needed to confirm whether the same benefits also occur in humans, what doses would be most effective, and whether supplementation is safe during different types of cancer treatment. If these results are confirmed in humans, creatine could become a simple, accessible, and low-cost ally to enhance some of the most modern therapies currently used in cancer treatment.

Scientists Elliot Kang with Lili Yang in the lab. Credit: Elena Zhukova, UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center.

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Creatine uptake promotes dendritic cell activation and enhances antitumor immunity

Elliot Kang, James Elsten-Brown, Yu-Chen Wang, Ashley Lam, Elise Sanchez, Renee Wen, Tiffany Wang, Jennifer Chiang, Quentin Scarborough, Yan-Ruide Li, Yichen Zhu, Jie Huang, Matthew Williams, Sarah Eckl, and Bo Li and Lili Yang

iScience. Volume 29, Issue 4115436, April 17, 2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.115436

Abstract: 

Dendritic cells (DCs) are central regulators of antitumor T cell immunity and are highly sensitive to metabolic cues. However, the therapeutic potential of targeting DC metabolism remains underexplored. Here, we report upregulation of the creatine transporter (CrT; Slc6a8) in intratumoral DCs, which facilitates the cellular uptake of creatine, an energy-storage metabolite. DCs from CrT knockout mice exhibited impaired activation and reduced ability to elicit antigen-specific CD8 T cell responses. Conversely, creatine supplementation enhanced mouse DC activation in vitro and in vivo, and suppressed tumor growth in a syngeneic melanoma model. Notably, creatine uptake similarly boosted the activation and immunostimulatory function of human monocyte-derived DCs. Mechanistically, CrT promotes DC activation by preserving intracellular ATP levels and enhancing energy-dependent inflammatory signaling pathways. Together, these findings uncover a previously unrecognized role for creatine metabolism in regulating DC function and support the use of creatine supplementation as a strategy to augment DC-based cancer immunotherapy.