A ketogenic diet may help improve the response of mice to specific anticancer drugs

, a mouse study published online today in the journal Psythalms, suggests that a ketogenic diet of high fat, moderate protein and low carbohydrates can be combined with medication to improve the effectiveness of the cancer drug PI3K inhibitors. Studies have shown that a combined therapeutic strategy for diet and targeted therapy may be used to improve drug response. However, whether these results can be translated into clinical application is subject to further study.
researchers have developed several PI3K mutation inhibitors that are known to cause cancer. But because PI3K regulates sugar metabolism, the use of PI3K inhibitors can lead to high blood sugar levels and elevate insulin levels. Typically, this effect is very short-lived, but in patients with any degree of insulin resistance, it is prolonged. In this case, insulin activates the PI3K signaling path path in the tumor, promotes cancer development, and interrupts the treatment of PI3K inhibitors.
, several mouse models showed glucose-insulin feedback that activates the PI3K path in the tumor and may counteract the anti-tumor effects of inhibitors, the researchers said. The researchers found that specific diets or medications could prevent this insulin feedback and improve the effectiveness of inhibitors. In particular, mice on a ketogenic diet were treated with PI3K inhibitors, insulin levels decreased because the ketogenic diet greatly consumed glycogen stored in the liver and inhibited glucose release. The results showed that tumors in several mouse models of the ketogenic diet beed smaller.
researchers noted that the effects of individual ketogenic diet therapy varied significantly among different mouse tumor models, suggesting that adjusting the diet was not sufficient to produce observable therapeutic effects. (Source: Feng Weiwei/Compilation, China Science Daily)