Dietary Approaches to Cancer Therapy

Abstract

The concept that dietary changes could improve the response to cancer therapy is extremely attractive to many patients, who are highly motivated to take control of at least some aspect of their treatment. Growing insight into cancer metabolism is highlighting the importance of nutrient supply to tumor development and therapeutic response. Cancers show diverse metabolic requirements, influenced by factors such as tissue of origin, microenvironment, and genetics. Dietary modulation will therefore need to be matched to the specific characteristics of both cancers and treatment, a precision approach requiring a detailed understanding of the mechanisms that determine the metabolic vulnerabilities of each cancer.

Sinusoidal endothelial cell progenitor cells promote tumor progression in the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

“…Its high rate of recurrence and resistance after conventional therapy was caused by high angiogenic and metastatic potential of HCC cells, and the rate of recurrence was as high as 70% following conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy, arterial embolization, surgical resection, and radiofrequency ablation [17][18][19] . Present studies mainly focused on the HCC cancer cells, such as the metabolism of cancer cells 18,20 and high degree of molecular heterogeneity in liver tumors 21 . But, few studies have explored the effect of peri-tumor environment such as angiogenesis on the malignant tumor formation and progression.…”

Tumor Cell-Intrinsic Immunometabolism and Precision Nutrition in Cancer Immunotherapy

“…On the negative side, a phase III study combining an IDO1-selective competitive inhibitor with an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody failed to provide significant therapeutic gain in patients with metastatic melanoma [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ]. These clinical findings highlight the need for uncovering the metabolic flexibility dependencies of tumor cells in responding or adapting to metabolic modulators [ 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ], including dietary approaches [ 65 , 66 , 67 ], aimed at overcoming resistance to ICIs.…”

“…Although originally assumed not to be relevant, certain dietary interventions/modifications have been proposed as an integral part of anti-cancer regimens—as an extrinsic metabolic means capable of impacting cancer patient outcomes [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. The mechanistic ability of starvation/calorie restriction (e.g., fasting/intermittent fasting or fasting-mimicking diets leading to glucose restriction) and more targeted dietary approaches involving selective nutrient limitation (e.g., deprivation of amino acids such as methionine or serine) or selective nutrient supplementation (e.g., histidine, mannose) to enhance cancer therapy has been described in two recent excellent reviews [ 66 , 67 ]. In the context of cancer immunotherapy, we are beginning to appreciate how certain dietary interventions/modifications may alleviate the severe immunosuppressive metabolic traits of the TME.…”

“…Likewise, diet-induced reduction of circulating serine, which supplies glycine and one-carbon units for de novo nucleotide biosynthesis in proliferating T-cells, severely limits T-cell expansion even in the presence of optimal glucose concentrations [ 80 ]. Whereas arginine-depleted diets and arginine-degrading agents such as the PEGylated arginine deiminase (ADI-PEG20) synergize with the anti-tumor effects of cancer therapies in different mouse tumor models [ 67 , 81 , 82 ], dietary supplementation of arginine has been shown to limit the growth of cancers by enhancing innate and adaptive immune responses [ 83 , 84 ]. Indeed, arginine depletion using a PEGylated form of the catabolic enzyme arginase I (peg-Arg I) enhances tumor growth in mice by inducing MDSCs and blunting T-cell responses [ 85 ], confirming that arginine can have a direct impact on the metabolic fitness and survival capacity of T-cells crucial for anti-tumor responses.…”

Regenerative Wound Dressings for Skin Cancer

“…Cancer is characterized by an abnormal growth of cells, which further invade and spread throughout different body organs through metastasis [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Its metabolism is highly complex, depending on a series of factors, including genetic and epigenetic alterations, the surrounding environment, the tissue of origin, and the systemic host metabolism [ 7 ]. Consequently, cancer cells possess a remarkable ability of surviving and adapting to various stress conditions, such as oxidative and metabolic stress, hypoxia, and nutrient deprivation [ 8 ].…”