When -- not what -- obese mice ate reduced breast cancer risk
Intermittent fasting aligned with circadian rhythms improved insulin levels and reduced tumor growth
2021-01-25
(Press-News.org) Restricting eating to an eight-hour window, when activity is highest, decreased the risk of development, growth and metastasis of breast cancer in mouse models, report researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Moores Cancer Center and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System (VASDSH).
The findings, published in the January 25, 2021 edition of Nature Communications, show that time-restricted feeding -- a form of intermittent fasting aligned with circadian rhythms -- improved metabolic health and tumor circadian rhythms in mice with obesity-driven postmenopausal breast cancer.
"Previous research has shown that obesity increases the risk of a variety of cancers by negatively affecting how the body reacts to insulin levels and changing circadian rhythms," said senior author Nicholas Webster, PhD, professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine and senior research career scientist at VASDSH. "We were able to increase insulin sensitivity, reduce hyperinsulinemia, restore circadian rhythms and reduce tumor growth by simply modifying when and for how long mice had access to food."
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the United States, after skin cancers. One in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime.
Researchers used female mouse models mimicking postmenopausal hormone conditions to investigate whether time-restricted feeding of obese mice affected the development and growth of tumors and reduced breast cancer metastasis to the lungs. Three groups were compared in different mouse models. One group had 24-hour access to food. A second had food access for eight hours at night when mice are most active and a third group had an unrestricted low-fat diet.
Both obesity and menopause can disrupt circadian rhythms, which in turn can lead to the development of insulin resistance, predisposing individuals to chronic diseases like cancer.
Data indicates that elevated insulin levels in obese mice are driving the accelerated tumor growth. Artificially elevating insulin levels accelerated tumor growth, whereas reducing insulin levels could mimic the effect of the time-restricted feeding. The results suggest that the antitumor effect of time-restricted feeding is due to improving metabolic health and lowering the levels of insulin, said Manasi Das, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Webster lab and first author.
"Time-restricted eating has a positive effect on metabolic health and does not trigger the hunger and irritability that is associated with long-term fasting or calorie restriction," said Das. "Through its beneficial metabolic effects, time-restricted eating may also provide an inexpensive, easy to adopt, but effective strategy to prevent and inhibit breast cancer without requiring a change in diet or physical activity."
Exploring the ability of time-restricted eating to prevent breast cancer in women, or cancer in general, could affect a wide range of patients, said Webster, suggesting that clinical trials are warranted.
"The increase in risk of breast cancer is particularly high in women who are overweight and have been through menopause. For this reason, doctors may advice women to adopt weight loss strategies to prevent tumor growth," said Das. "Our data suggests that a person may benefit from simply timing their meals differently to prevent breast cancer rather than changing what they eat."
INFORMATION:
Co-authors include: Lesley G. Ellies, Alexis Oberg, Tyler Mandt, Mehakdeep Kaur, Dorothy D. Sears, all of UC San Diego; and Deepak Kumar, Consuelo Sauceda, Emilie Gross and Isabel G. Newton, all of UC San Diego and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-01-25
Corals, like all animals, must eat to live. The problem is that most corals grow in tropical waters that are poor in nutrients, sort of like ocean deserts; it's this lack of nutrients that makes the water around coral reefs so crystal clear. Because food is not readily available, corals have developed a remarkable feeding mechanism that involves a symbiotic relationship with single-celled algae. These algae grow inside the corals, using the coral tissue as shelter and absorbing the CO2 that the corals produce. In exchange, the algae provide corals with nutrients they produce through photosynthesis. These algae contain a variety of pigments, which give the coral reefs the ...
2021-01-25
Scientists conducted the first study to examine the fetal health impact of light pollution based on a direct measure of skyglow, an important aspect of light pollution. Using an empirical regularity discovered in physics, called Walker's Law, a team from Lehigh University, Lafayette College and the University of Colorado Denver in the U.S., found evidence of reduced birth weight, shortened gestational length and preterm births.
Specifically, the likelihood of a preterm birth could increase by approximately 1.48 percentage points (or 12.9%), according to the researchers, as a result of increased nighttime brightness. Nighttime brightness is characterized by being able to see only one-fourth ...
2021-01-25
WASHINGTON (Jan. 25, 2021) - The majority of dermatology patients surveyed find telehealth appointments to be a suitable alternative to in-person office visits, according to a survey study from researchers at the George Washington University (GW) Department of Dermatology. The results are published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed many aspects of everyday life, including how patients interact with the health care system and seek medical care. Social distancing and stay-at-home orders have led to a move from in-office to virtual visits. While many specialties had to shift to the virtual format because ...
2021-01-25
The Special Issue, Volume 10, of Inter Faculty takes up the theme of resonance in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and its ensuing societal shifts. For, the pandemic this year (2020) reminded us more than ever that we live in 'VUCA' - volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Many things that used to be taken for granted up until a year ago crumbled abruptly and globally. The pandemic struck many aspects or our societies such as public health, economy and social bonds thereby uncovering the vulnerability of the modern society. Universities are no exception to this. Just as one nation by itself cannot tackle these global challenges, neither can these challenges be solved ...
2021-01-25
Using machine learning, researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute have identified several patterns of maternal autoantibodies highly associated with the diagnosis and severity of autism.
Their study, published Jan. 22 in Molecular Psychiatry, specifically focused on maternal autoantibody-related autism spectrum disorder (MAR ASD), a condition accounting for around 20% of all autism cases.
"The implications from this study are tremendous," said Judy Van de Water, a professor of rheumatology, allergy and clinical immunology at UC Davis and the lead author of the study. "It's the first time that machine learning has been used to identify with 100% accuracy MAR ASD-specific patterns as potential biomarkers of ASD risk."
Autoantibodies are immune proteins ...
2021-01-25
Irvine, Calif., Jan. 25, 2021 -- Scientists at the University of California, Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have for the first time quantified how warming coastal waters are impacting individual glaciers in Greenland's fjords. Their work is the subject of a study published recently in Science Advances.
Working under the auspices of the Oceans Melting Greenland mission for the past five years, the researchers used ships and aircraft to survey 226 glaciers in all sectors of one of Earth's largest islands. They found that 74 glaciers situated in deep, steep-walled valleys accounted for nearly half of Greenland's total ice loss between 1992 and 2017.
Such fjord-bound glaciers were discovered to be the ...
2021-01-25
Epilepsy, a neurological disease that causes recurring seizures with a wide array of effects, impacts approximately 50 million people across the world. This condition has been recognized for a long time -- written records of epileptic symptoms date all the way back to 4000 B.C.E. But despite this long history of knowledge and treatment, the exact processes that occur in the brain during a seizure remain elusive.
Scientists have observed distinctive patterns in the electrical activity of neuron groups in healthy brains. Networks of neurons move through states of similar behavior (synchronization) and dissimilar behavior (desynchronization) ...
2021-01-25
A new study demonstrates that antibodies generated by the novel coronavirus react to other strains of coronavirus and vice versa, according to research published today by scientists from Oregon Health & Science University.
However, antibodies generated by the SARS outbreak of 2003 had only limited effectiveness in neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Antibodies are blood proteins that are made by the immune system to protect against infection, in this case by a coronavirus.
The study published today in the journal Cell Reports.
"Our finding has some important implications concerning immunity toward different strains of coronavirus infections, ...
2021-01-25
Astrocytes are the most abundant type of cells within the central nervous system (CNS), but they remain poorly characterized. Researchers have long assumed that astrocytes' primary function is to provide nutrients and support for the brain's more closely scrutinized nerve cells; over the years, however, increasing evidence has shown that astrocytes can also actively promote neurodegeneration, inflammation, and neurological diseases. Now, a team led by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, has shown that a specific astrocyte sub-population can do the opposite, instead serving a protective, anti-inflammatory function within the brain based on signals regulated by the bacteria that reside in ...
2021-01-25
-Data demonstrate ADG2 binds to all known variants of SARS-CoV-2 and is not impacted by known circulating resistance mutations-
-Company expects to begin clinical studies for a half-life extended version of ADG2 for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 in early 2021-
Waltham, MA - January 25, 2021- Adagio Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing best-in-class antibodies to broadly neutralize coronaviruses, today published in vitro and in vivo data in Science on its lead antibody candidate, ADG2, which demonstrated similar or higher potency against SARS-CoV-2 compared to other monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in clinical development and strong binding to all known ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] When -- not what -- obese mice ate reduced breast cancer risk
Intermittent fasting aligned with circadian rhythms improved insulin levels and reduced tumor growth
