Cell: Treat fat-dependent cancers with new "drugs and diets"!

, June 22, 2020 /PRNewswire
/ -- Cancer, which often relies heavily on decomposing fats for growth and spread, can be treated by combining a highly innovative new drug with a change in diet, a major new study has concludedthe landmark study used a surgical "iKnife" to analyze gasated cancer tissue and identify metabolic defects in cancer that could be treated with a new metabolic therapyresearchers have found that the ability to treat fat against cancer with a new drug can stop the growth oftumorin mice, but must be combined with a fat-free dietthe study, led by scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research in London and colleagues at Imperial College London, opens up the possibility of a combination of "drugs and diet" to treat cancer - combining precision medicine with dietary changesPicture Source: Cell
but the researchers stress that the recommended dietary changes will only be used in conjunction with a specific new drug, and that they do not suggest any benefits in any other clinical settingthe study also showed that iKnife's potential to immediately identify metabolically weaktumor
s during surgery by analyzing smoke from tissue burning during removallooking for "metabolic fingerprints"scientists looked at theof cancer cells in the lab andtumors originating in patients to look for "metabolic fingerprints" -- chemical patterns left behind by the work inside the cellsthey used an analytical function connected to iKnife, which uses rapid heating to cut tissue to screen for smoke from evaporated tissue siftles to find key clues to cell metabolism The study was published in the journal Cell in the new study, scientists found that a molecule called PI3K, which is critical to the growth and survival of cancer cells, plays a key role in triggering the release of peanut tetraoleic acid, a key omega-6 fat PI3K is commonly mutated in many cancers, including breast , gynecology and bowel cancer researchers found that the mutation in PI3K triggered a series of events involving another key molecule, cPLA2, which released peanut tetraoleic acid This, in turn, exacerbates uncontrolled growth and spread of cancer a diet that doesn't contain omega-6 fats
the team later found in mouse trials that a new drug called cPLA2 inhibitors -- currently under clinical trials to treat various inflammatory conditions -- could be used to treat fat-dependent cancers But these drugs are only effective when combined with changing your diet to limit fat intake when the mice were given a drug that inhibits cPLA2 and a plant-based fat-free diet, tumors with the mutation PI3K stopped growing and spreading However, cPLA2 inhibitors did not work when mice were fed "western" foods rich in omega-6 fatty acids researchers believe that targeting cPLA2 is only effective without peanut tetraoleic acid or other sources of fat In other words, a fat-free plant-based diet is a necessary condition for these drugs to be effective the findings apply only to the use of these experimental cPLA2 inhibitors They're not saying that the presence of fat interferes with any existing anti-cancer drugs, or that limiting the fat in the diet alone can stop the growth of tumors detection of tumors that rely mainly on fat
study suggests that peanut tetraoleic acid may be a metabolic biomarker -- an indicator of the internal processes of cancer cells iKnife technology can detect cancer in tissue within seconds of surgery, but this is the first time it has been used to track the biological properties of tumors This increases the likelihood that in the future iKnife will test for tumor
s that rely heavily on fat in surgery, so that patients can receive metabolic treatment Picture Source: Cell
Next, researchers hope to test the iKnife method in clinical trials to select patients who can benefit from taking cPLA2 drugs while changing their diet targets the metabolic of cancer cells Dr George Poulogiannis, who leads the Signals and Cancer Metabolism Group at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, said: "We have long known that cancer has genetic weaknesses that can be targeted for treatment, but our research shows that they are also prone to specific metabolic weaknesses We found that tumors often rely heavily on specific fats and their products to promote their growth and spread, and that preventing their ability to process them may be an effective treatment Our study suggests that preventing a particular subtype of cancer from releasing a key omega-6 fatty acid, peanut tetraoleic acid, may be an effective treatment, but only if the food needs to remove the source of this fat Therefore, these findings in mice highlight the role of nutrition in drug treatment responses "
" also shows that analyzing metabolic fingerprints of cancer is a key tool for understanding, diagnosis, and treating diseases Our research adds to the prospect of future applications where we can analyze the metabolic fingerprints of cancer while patients use iKnife on the operating table and, where appropriate, match medications and dietary treatments Professor Paul Workman, chief executive of the Cancer Institute in London, , said: "This is an exciting and important study that suggests that it is possible to understand and treat cancer by looking at so-called metabolic fingerprints The new study has found a particular metabolic weakness that may be applied to a highly innovative cancer treatment based on two basic ingredients -- drugs that have been used in clinical trials other diseases, and which are used in combination with a fat-free diet More broadly, the study opens up a new approach to cancer, targeting metabolic differences between tumor and healthy tissue "(BioValleyBioon.com) reference: Nikos Koundouros et al.
Fingerprint BlymIng Links Oncogenic PIK3CA with Enhanced Arachidonic Acid-Derived Eicosanoids , Cell (2020) DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.05.053
Cancer's reliance on fat can be targeted with new 'drugs and diet' treatment .