About once a year or so, we get a hint of a genuine breakthrough in treating pancreatic cancer. At some point, one of them has to stick.

The latest development, from the University of California San Francisco, certainly sounds good on paper. What’s most promising is its simplicity.

Mice with pancreatic cancer were put on a ketogenic (high fat) diet, and given a new treatment – one that was still in clinical trials.

The therapy blocked the metabolism of the fat and “starved the cancer of the fuel it needed for it to continue to grow”.

As long as the mice were fed the ketogenic diet, “the tumours stopped growing”.

The researchers happened upon the findings by accident. The experiment was initially an investigation of how the body manages to subsist on fat while fasting.

Dr Davide Ruggero, is a research professor in the departments of urology and cellular molecular pharmacology at UCSF. He is also senior author of the paper. He said:

“Our findings led us straight to the biology of one of the deadliest cancers, pancreatic cancer.”

More details of the discovery

In their experiments with fasting, Ruggero and his team first uncovered how a certain protein – known as eukaryotic translation initiation factor (eIF4E) – “changes the body’s metabolism to switch to fat consumption during fasting”.

The same switch also occurs – courtesy of eIF4E – when an animal is on a ketogenic diet.

They then found that a new cancer drug – called eFT508 and still being trialled – blocked eIF4E (the switch to fat consumption).

This means it blocked the ketogenic pathway, stopping the body from metabolising fat.

When the scientists combined the drug “with a ketogenic diet in an animal model of pancreatic cancer, the cancer cells starved”.

“Our findings open a point of vulnerability that we can treat with a clinical inhibitor that we already know is safe in humans,” said Ruggero.

“We now have firm evidence of one way in which diet might be used alongside pre-existing cancer therapies to precisely eliminate a cancer.”

How well might this work with people?

Melanie Murphy Richter is a dietitian and nutritionist, who was not involved in the study, and asked for comment by Medical News Today.

She said the findings were intriguing and have great potential, but that more research needs to be done with humans.

“What works in mice doesn’t always translate directly to humans, and the human body is complex,” she said.

“Sticking to such a strict diet, especially when someone is already dealing with the rigours of cancer treatment, isn’t easy.”

She said the preliminary science was sound. But the question of the therapy combo being safely applied to patients “is still up in the air”. 

Dr Anton Bilchik, surgical oncologist, at Providence Saint John’s Cancer Institute in Santa Monica was not involved in the study. He too was asked for comment by Medical News Today.

Bilchik said the ability of the ketogenic diet to interact with cancer therapy was “promising” and “fascinating”.

However, he cautioned that the interaction of weight loss and cancer could backfire, especially with pancreatic cancer.

“It is also important to note that many pancreatic cancer patients lose a significant amount of weight,” he said.

Further weight loss “could have a negative effect on the immune system and its ability to fight cancer”.