A study conducted by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania has uncovered a simple yet promising approach to enhance personalized cell therapy for cancer treatment. The research found that a dietary supplement may offer a novel way to improve the effectiveness of CAR T cell therapy, a personalized cancer treatment that reprograms a patient’s immune cells to target and destroy cancer cells.
The study, led by co-lead authors Puneeth Guruprasad and Shan Liu, aimed to identify an effective strategy to enhance CAR T cell functionality and cancer-fighting capabilities. The researchers tested the effect of several diets on CAR T cells using a mouse model of diffuse-large B-cell lymphoma and found that a ketogenic diet improved tumor control and survival in mice compared to other diets.
The key mediator of this effect was beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), a metabolite produced by the liver in response to a ketogenic diet. The researchers also tested a BHB supplement combined with CAR T cell therapy in laboratory models of human cancer, resulting in complete obliteration of cancer in most mice and higher CAR T cell expansion and activation.
The study’s findings suggest that increasing the levels of BHB in the body gives CAR T cells more power to take out cancer cells. The researchers plan to test this theory in a Phase I clinical trial at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, which is expected to begin enrolling patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma.
The study’s lead authors emphasize that while the research is promising, it is still preliminary and not enough evidence exists to recommend dietary supplements to patients. However, they hope that this finding could lead to the development of a new approach to enhance anti-cancer effects through dietary interventions or other, more traditional approaches.
Source: https://scitechdaily.com/simple-dietary-supplement-could-supercharge-cancer-fighting-immune-cells