Dietary restriction (DR) is the most successful nutritional intervention for extending lifespan and preserving health in numerous species. Reducing food intake triggers a protective response that shifts energy resources from growth to maintenance and resilience mechanisms. This so-called survival response has been shown to particularly increase life- and health span and decrease DNA damage in DNA repair-deficient mice exhibiting accelerated aging. Accumulation of DNA damage is the main cause of aging, but also of cancer. Moreover, radiotherapies and most chemotherapies are based on damaging DNA, consistent with their ability to induce toxicity and accelerate aging. Since fasting and DR decrease DNA damage and its effects, nutritional preconditioning holds promise for improving (cancer) therapy and preventing short- and long-term side effects of anticancer treatments. This review provides an overview of the link between aging and cancer, highlights important preclinical studies applying such nutritional preconditioning, and summarizes the first clinical trials implementing nutritional preconditioning in cancer treatment.
Keyphrases
- dna damage
- dna repair
- oxidative stress
- ischemia reperfusion injury
- healthcare
- clinical trial
- papillary thyroid
- public health
- cancer therapy
- cerebral ischemia
- stem cells
- squamous cell carcinoma
- machine learning
- bone marrow
- blood glucose
- editorial comment
- type diabetes
- climate change
- depressive symptoms
- quality improvement
- big data
- metabolic syndrome
- brain injury
- artificial intelligence
- cell therapy
- mesenchymal stem cells
- human health
- health promotion
- weight loss
- cell free
- circulating tumor cells