KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the effect of short-term fasting on HNSCC cell survival compared to healthy oral mucosa cells during chemotherapy.
- Researchers noticed that short-term fasting significantly enhanced apoptosis and necrosis in HNSCC cells during chemotherapy.
Ketogenic interventions like short-term fasting show potential as complementary therapies to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy for cancer. However, the specific effects of fasting on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells and healthy oral mucosa cells during these treatments are not well understood.
Nafiseh Sheykhbahaei and the team aimed to investigate whether short-term fasting can differentially impact HNSCC cell survival and viability compared to healthy keratinocytes while undergoing standard chemotherapy regimens.
They performed an inclusive analysis to investigate the effects of fasting on cell viability in the HN5 cell line and healthy oral keratinocyte cells. The study involved HN5 cells, derived from human tongue squamous cell carcinoma, and primary human keratinocytes isolated from the basal layer of gingival epithelium.
Cells were divided into 3 groups: (1) control, (2) treated with the standard chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin, and (3) treated with cisplatin under fasting conditions achieved through 48-hour glucose restriction mimicking the blood glucose levels of fasted individuals.
Cell proliferation was assessed at 48 and 72 hours using the MTT assay, a colorimetric method based on mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity. Flow cytometry analysis with specific apoptosis and necrosis markers was employed to distinguish between early and late apoptotic, necrotic, and viable cells.
About the results, cell viability in HN5 and healthy keratinocyte cells decreased in the cisplatin with low glucose groups compared to the cisplatin and control groups. The same results were observed for healthy keratinocyte cells; only a decrease in cell viability in cisplatin groups compared to control groups was observed, which was not statistically significant.
Cell apoptosis in HN5 and healthy keratinocyte cells increased in the cisplatin with low glucose groups compared to the cisplatin and control groups. In healthy keratinocyte cells, the cisplatin with low glucose group showed an impressive increase in necrosis, late apoptosis, and early apoptosis, and a significant decrease in live cells compared with other groups.
The study concluded that short-term fasting significantly enhanced apoptosis and necrosis in the HNSCC cell line during chemotherapy.
The study is funded and funded by the Tehran University of Medical Science (TUMS).
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39123141/
Sheykhbahaei N, Tameemi AHA, Koopaie M, (2024). “Effect of short-term fasting on the cisplatin activity in human oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line HN5 and chemotherapy side effects.” BMC Cancer. 2024 Aug 9;24(1):989. doi: 10.1186/s12885-024-12752-2. PMID: 39123141; PMCID: PMC11316436.
