Cancer treatment: Low-protein diet stops growth of malignant cells

“A low-protein diet will not be a stand-alone treatment. It has to be combined with something else, like chemotherapy,” said Sumeet Solanki, a researcher at the Rogel Cancer Center.

The risk of a low-protein diet is that people with cancer often experience muscle weakness and weight loss, which could exasperate limiting protein.

In order for cancer cells to live and grow, they need nutrition. mTORC1 is one of the most important nutrient sensing molecules in a cell. It allows cells to detect various nutrients and, as a result, expand and multiply, which is why it is often referred to as a master regulator of cell growth. Cells reduce the activity of the nutrient sensing cascade and reject mTORC1 when nutrients are in short supply.

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The ability of cells to grow and proliferate in response to dietary signals is governed by the mTORC1 regulator. It is known to make cancer more resistant to conventional treatments and is extremely active in malignancies with specific mutations. Through a complex called GATOR, a diet low in protein, and more specifically a decrease in two essential amino acids, altered nutritional signals.

“In colon cancer, when the nutrients available in the tumors are reduced, the cells don’t know what to do. Without the nutrients to grow, they go through a kind of crisis that leads to mass cell death,” said senior author Yatrik . M. Shah, PhD, Horace W. Davenport Collegiate Professor of Physiology at Michigan Medicine.

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Inhibiting the cancer-causing signals of mTORC has been the primary goal of previous attempts to inhibit it. But when patients stop taking these inhibitors, the cancer comes back because of the serious side effects they cause. The research suggests a different strategy to inhibit mTORC: blocking the nutrient pathway by restricting amino acids through a low-protein diet.

The researchers found that limiting amino acids increased cell death and prevented cancer from spreading in cells and animals. In tissue samples from colon cancer patients, high mTORC levels were shown to be associated with worse outcomes and increased chemoresistance, which was confirmed by the researchers. Solanki says this could allow patients who carry this marker to have their treatments personalized.

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Long-term protein restriction for cancer patients is not optimal. However, Shah said, if you can identify critical times when patients might stick to a low-protein diet for a week or two, such as at the start of chemotherapy or radiation, you could potentially increase the effectiveness of those treatments.

(With ANI entries)