On February 11, 2022, Dr. Yang Lifeng, the leader of the research group, published an article entitled ketogenic diet and chemistry combine to disrupt pancreatic cancer metabolism and growth in Med. By means of in vivo isotope tracing and ketogenic diet intervention, this paper studied how the keto metabolism and ketogenic diet in mammals change the metabolism of pancreatic tumors, and combined with first-line chemicals to produce synergy, which was reported by many media.

      Aiming at the scientific question of whether nutritional intervention can slow down tumor growth, Dr. Yang Lifeng found that ketogenic diet itself could not prolong the survival time of tumor mice. However, it is combined with the first-line treatment for pancreatic cancer (albumin paclitaxel, guitarin and cisplatin). The authors found that the growth rate of cancer was significantly slowed down and the survival time of mice was significantly increased. By detecting H & E, Ki67 and caspase-3 staining, it was found that ketogenic diet + chemicals can reduce the growth rate of cancer cells and enhance the necrosis of cancer cells rather than apoptosis. Further research on metabolism shows that chemical drugs can also enhance the reduction stress (NADH / NAD) in tumor cells. Tumor cells can produce more glycolytic metabolites, ATP and glutathione, which can survive under the action of chemical drugs, and ketogenic diet can just resist the resistance produced by metabolic remodeling. The authors found that ketogenic diet can enhance oxidative stress in cancer cells and promote fatty acid oxidation, leading to cell death.
     As for whether ketogenic diet can promote immune function, Dr. Yang Lifeng found that ketogenic diet can promote inf through rnaseq- γ, INF- α, IL6 pathway related gene expression, however, tumor experiments in immunodeficient mice showed that the synergistic effect of ketogenic diet and chemical drugs and ketogenic diet promoting immune response were independent of each other. The mechanism of ketogenesis promoting immune response needs to be further studied.

Original link:
https://www.cell.com/med/fulltext/S2666-6340 (21)00409-8