Fasting Reprograms Immune Cells to Fight Cancer
Fasting helps fight cancer by optimizing metabolism of natural killer cells in mice.
New research suggests that fasting improves the anti-cancer response of the body.
Image credit: Anna Tukhfatullina
- Fasting can reprogram the metabolism of natural killer cells (NK cells) to help them survive in a tumour environment and improve their cancer-fighting ability.
- The study found that fasting led to a reduction in glucose levels and an increase in free fatty acids, which NK cells learned to use as an alternative fuel source.
- Fasting also redistributed NK cells within the body, with many traveling into the bone marrow where they were exposed to high levels of Interleukin-12 (IL-12).
- IL-12 primed the NK cells to produce more Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), a cytokine that plays an important role in anti-tumour responses.
- Fasting also caused NK cells in the spleen to undergo metabolic reprogramming, making them better at using lipids as a fuel source.
- The combined effects of fasting on NK cells primed them to produce more cytokines within the tumour and allowed them to survive better in the tumour environment.
- The study suggests that fasting could be a strategy to improve immune responses and make immunotherapy more effective.