The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7496 p392
5 April 2008

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Starvation protects mice against chemotherapy toxicity

Short-term starvation provides protection against the adverse effects of high-dose chemotherapy in mice, a study published on-line suggests (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 31 March 2008).

Researchers showed that starvation for 48 hours provided protection to mice, but not to injected cancer cells, against a high-dose of etoposide. The researchers suggest that normal cells, but not cancer cells, are protected because they enter a stress-resistance mode in response to being starved.

The ability to produce such differences in toxicity to normal and cancer cells could lead to the development of improved therapies for a range of cancers, they add.