Carnosine and N-acetyl-L-carnosine may also be effective anticancer agents. Studies in this area have mostly used animals, but some used human implanted cancer and isolated human cancer cells.

In one study, researchers implanted a sarcoma in an animal and found that carnosine significantly inhibited tumor growth when administered continuously. It also reduced mortality.

Later studies confirmed those findings and extended them, including that carnosine inhibited the aggressiveness of cancers by slowing the growth of cancer cells. Others found similar results.

Because carnosine is quickly destroyed in the bloodstream by the enzyme carnosinase, multiple doses are recommended. Carnosine is detectable for up to four hours following ingestion. It may be bound to a blood protein that protects it. An alternative is to use N-acetyl-L-carnosine, which is not destroyed by carnosinase.

One of the cancers carnosine was tested on was glioblastoma multiforme, a fast-growing and highly aggressive brain tumor. Current treatments essentially have no effect on this tumor. Carnosine may offer an alternative because it is safe, enters the brain easily, and studies have demonstrated efficient inhibition of this type of tumor.

In addition, carnosine has been shown to protect against some of the side effects of conventional cancer treatments such as lung injury caused by radiation.

In fact, the compound appears to enhance killing of only cancer cells by radiation. Carnosine has also been shown to protect the lungs from severe fibrosis, which is common with the chemotherapy agent bleomycin.

And it protected the kidneys from damage by the commonly used chemotherapy agent cisplatin, as well as enhancing its effectiveness against cancer.