The ketogenic diet and hyperbaric oxygen therapy work synergistically to slow tumor growth and increase survival time in mice with systemic metastatic cancer
Abstract
Cancer energy metabolism is characterized by an abnormal dependence on glycolysis and fermentation for energy which can be exploited therapeutically by decreasing glucose availability to the tumor. The ketogenic diet (KD) is a high fat, low carbohydrate diet which decreases blood glucose and increases blood ketones and has been reported to slow cancer progression in laboratory and clinical settings. Tumor hypoxia is a consequence of abnormal vasculature and promotes cancer progression and further increases glycolytic‐dependency. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO2T) increases oxygen saturation within the tumor and can offset the cancer‐promoting effects of hypoxia. Since these therapies target overlapping metabolic defects within cancer cells, we tested the combined efficacy of KD+HBO2T on cancer progression and survival in a murine model of metastatic disease. KD alone significantly slowed tumor growth and increased mean survival time by 34%. Interestingly, while HBO2T alone did not influence outcome, combining the KD with HBO2T resulted in a supra‐additive effect, significantly slowing tumor growth and increasing mean survival time by 80% in mice with systemic metastatic cancer. Our results support the potential use of KD and HBO2T metabolic therapy as adjuvant treatments for patients with advanced metastatic disease.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2013
- Source ID
- 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.863.2
Entities
People
- Angela M. Poff
- Craig Goldhagen
- Csilla Ari
- Dominic P D'Agostino
- Thomas Seyfried
Organizations
- Boston College
- Office of Naval Research
- University of South Florida