Creatine, the over-the-counter supplement used by millions of athletes and gym-goers to build muscle and improve performance, may also help the immune system fight cancer, according to new research from UCLA published in the journal iScience.
The study, highlighted by ScienceDaily on July 8, 2026, found that creatine fuels a critical class of immune cells called dendritic cells — specialized sentinels that detect tumor fragments and direct the body's cancer-killing T cells to attack. When creatine was supplied to mice with melanoma, tumor growth slowed, and the number of dendritic cells inside tumors increased. In human dendritic cells tested in a laboratory dish, creatine also enhanced activation and improved the cells' ability to prime T cells for an immune attack.
