Fasting increases immunity and the effect of the treatment

Two main studies showed that fewer calories activate the immune system and increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

Most drugs used in chemotherapy are very potent cytotoxins that can kill cells by stopping them from multiplying. However, several observations in recent years indicate that this cytotoxic measure is often not sufficient to eliminate all tumor cells: to be truly effective in the long term, chemotherapy must also restore immune surveillance against cancer by activating blood cells. , specializes in removing foreign objects.

For example, studies show that by killing cancer cells, some chemotherapy drugs (anthracyclines, oxaliplatin) trigger a series of events that will result in the production of signals that can activate the immune response. This phenomenon, called “immune cell death”, can somehow be compared to a vaccine, in which dying cancer cells elicit a strong immune response and allow the complete elimination of the remaining cancer cells.

Calorie restriction activates immunity

Very encouraging preliminary results indicate that the efficacy of chemotherapy can be greatly improved by significantly reducing caloric intake. For example, in mice with human tumors, 48 ​​hours of fasting increases survival, with nearly half of the animals surviving 180 days after cessation of treatment, while all normally fed animals died.

Two recent primary studies by teams of French and American scientists suggest that this positive effect of calorie restriction is due to increased anti-cancer activity in the immune system. For example, it has been observed that one in Dr. Walter Longo developed a diet, which mimics the positive effects of fasting on the body, improves the response of mice with mammary tumors and melanomas to chemotherapy by causing a marked increase in killer lymphocytes. † Along the same lines, injections of substances that mimic the effects of fasting on metabolism led to a decrease in regulatory T lymphocytes (a class of white blood cells that reduce the immune response to cancer), which improved lymphocyte activity. fatal and resulted in a marked reduction in tumor burden.

Eating well means eating less

The team of dr. Longo is working with several hospitals to determine if calorie restriction improves a patient’s response to chemotherapy treatments, and we should soon know if these results obtained in animals can be applied to humans as well. In the meantime, it’s interesting to note that studies show that fasting for up to 72 hours is well tolerated by patients and appears to be associated with a significant reduction in chemotherapy side effects. These observations are not surprising, as our metabolism has evolved to function optimally under conditions of food scarcity. In addition, most of the chronic diseases that currently afflict the population, including many cancers, are a direct result of excessive food consumption. Eating well can simply mean eating less.

Lee Si et al. Fasting cycles slow tumor growth and sensitize a range of cancer cell types to chemotherapy. Sci Transl Med. 2012; 4: 124ra27.

De Biasi S et al. Fasting diet reduces HO-1 to increased T cell-mediated tumor cell toxicity. cancer cell 2016; 30:136-46.

Petrokola P et al. Calorie-restricted mimetics improve immune surveillance against cancer. cancer cell 2016; 30: 147-60.

Dorff TB et al. Safety and feasibility of fasting with platinum chemotherapy. BMC Cancer 2016; 16: 360.

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