Practitioner Resources

Increasing evidence suggests that dysregulation of autophagy results in the accumulation of abnormal proteins and/or damaged organelles, which is commonly observed in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s diseases  (Banerjee, Beal, and Thomas 2010). Impaired protein homeostasis and...

Cell Press July 2016 Download

The selection of chemotherapy drugs is based on the cytotoxicity to specific tumour cell types and the relatively low toxicity to normal cells and tissues. However, the toxicity to normal cells poses a major clinical challenge, particularly when malignant cells...

Recent studies indicate that dietary interventions have the potential to prevent and even treat cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death. Many of these studies have focused on various animal models that are able to recreate one or...

In laboratory animals, calorie restriction (CR) protects against ageing, oxidative stress, and neurodegenerative pathologies. Reduced levels of growth hormone and IGF-1, which mediate some of the protective effects of CR, can also extend longevity and/or protect against age-related diseases in...

short-term starvation (STS) protects normal cells while simultaneously sensitising malignant cells to high-dose chemotherapeutic drugs in mice and possibly patients. The fasting-dependent protection of normal cells and sensitisation of malignant cells depends, in part, on reduced levels of insulin-like growth...

Glioma, including anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma multiform (GBM) are among the most commonly diagnosed malignant adult brain tumours. GBM is a highly invasive and angiogenic tumour, resulting in a 12 to 15 months median survival. The treatment of GBM is...

Growth factors regulated by specific macro-nutrients have been shown to promote ageing and accelerate mortality in the majority of the organisms studied. In particular, the enzymes activated by growth hormone, insulin, and insulin-like growth factor-1 in mammals and their orthologs...

Short-term starvation (or fasting) protects normal cells, mice, and potentially humans from the harmful side effects of a variety of chemotherapy drugs. Here we show that treatment with starvation conditions sensitised yeast cells (S. cerevisiae) expressing the oncogene-like RAS2val19 to...

When the food intake of organisms such as yeast and rodents is reduced (dietary restriction), they live longer than organisms fed a normal diet. A similar effect is seen when the activity of nutrient-sensing pathways is reduced by mutations or...

Inhibitors of the insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) receptor have been widely studied for their ability to enhance the killing of a variety of malignant cells, but whether IGF-I signaling differentially protects the host and cancer cells against chemotherapy is unknown....

Cancer cells are characterized by dysregulation in signal transduction and metabolic pathways leading to increased glucose uptake, altered mitochon-drial function, and the evasion of antigrowth signals. Fasting and fasting-mimicking diets (FMDs) provide a particularly promising intervention to pro-mote differential effects...

Advanced age is associated with a decline in cognitive function, likely caused by a combination of modifiable and non-modifiable factors such as genetics and lifestyle choices. Mounting evidence suggests that humanin and other mitochondrial derived peptides play a role in...

The vulnerability of cancer cells to nutrient deprivation and their dependency on specific metabolites are emerging hallmarks of cancer. Fasting or fasting- mimicking diets (FMDs) lead to wide alterations in growth factors and in metabolite levels, generating environments that can...

Abstract: Short‐term fasting (48 hours) was shown to be effective  in protecting normal cells and mice but not cancer cells against  high  dose  chemotherapy,  termed  Differential  Stress  Resistance  (DSR),  but  the  feasibility  and  effect  of  fasting  in cancer  patients  undergoing ...

Calorie restriction (CR), the only non-genetic intervention known to slow aging and extend life span in organisms ranging from yeast to mice, has been linked to the down-regulation of Tor, Akt, and Ras signaling. In this study, we demonstrate that...