Special diet improves cancer treatments in mice

Abstract

New research in mice suggests that a simple dietary change can improve the effectiveness of certain cancer treatments. By feeding the mice a diet low in methionine, an essential amino acid in meat, eggs, and some nuts, a team led by Jason Locasale of Duke University found the cancer drug 5-fluorouracil could reduce tumor size in animals with cancers that were otherwise treatment-resistant. The diet also improved radiation treatment outcomes in mice with radiation-resistant cancers (Nature 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1437-3). The study is another step toward understanding how nutrition affects cancer outcomes, Locasale says. “Most of medical oncology is interested in genes,” he says. “But we now know that genes and the environment are very important. The major component of environment is nutrition.” Locasale and colleagues thought that a diet with reduced methionine would starve active tumors, which need energy to grow and spread. These cancerous cells get a quick source