Dairy milk fat augments paclitaxel therapy to suppress tumour metastasis in mice, and protects against the side-effects of chemotherapy

Abstract

Milk fat is a natural product containing essential nutrients as well as fatty acids and other food factors with reported anti-cancer potential. Here bovine milk fat was tested for its ability to inhibit the growth of breast and colon cancers and their metastasis to the lung and liver; either alone or in combination with the chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel. A diet containing 5% typical anhydrous milk fat (representing ~70% of the total dietary fat component) fed to Balb/c mice delayed the appearance of subcutaneous 4T1 breast and CT26 colon cancer tumours and inhibited their metastasis to the lung and liver, when compared to the control diet containing soybean oil as the only fat component. It augmented the inhibitory effects of paclitaxel on tumour growth and metastasis, and reduced the microvessel density of tumours. It displayed no apparent organ toxicity, but instead was beneficial for well-being of tumour-bearing mice by maintaining gastrocnemius muscle and epididymal adipose tissue that were otherwise depleted by cachexia. The milk fat diet ameliorated gut damage caused by paclitaxel in non-tumour-bearing mice, as evidenced by retention of jejunal morphology, villi length and intestinal γ-glutamyl transpeptidase activity, and inhibition of crypt apoptosis. It prevented loss of red and white blood cells due to both cancer-mediated immunosuppression and the cytotoxic effects of chemotherapy. The present study warrants the use of milk fat as an adjuvant to inhibit tumour metastasis during cancer chemotherapy, and to spare patients from the debilitating side-effects of cytotoxic drugs.

Silver nanoparticles enhance the apoptotic potential of gemcitabine in human ovarian cancer cells: combination therapy for effective cancer treatment

“…7 The combination of different drugs provides several advantages such as synergistic effects and reversal of drug resistance. 7,11,12 Combined treatment with combretastatin and the apoptosis-inducing agent doxorubicin was more effective at suppressing the growth of melanoma and lung carcinoma than treatment with either of these agents alone. 13 GEM is used extensively in combination with other chemotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancers and small cell lung cancers.…”

Althaea rosea Cavanil and Plantago major L. suppress neoplastic cell transformation through the inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor kinase

“…Numerous studies have indicated that chemotherapeutic drugs cannot successfully treat cancer as they have severe side effects including various types of rash, hair loss, painful paronychia and xerosis cutis (18). Plants as medicinal agents have been used in the treatment of various types of diseases in humans (19)(20)(21)(22)(23) and a number of investigators have also reported that natural products may be safe and free from side effects (24)(25)(26)(27). Particularly, PML as a natural product, has been reported to exert its anticancer effect via DNA damage in cancer cells (15).…”

A randomised phase IIb trial to assess the efficacy of ReCharge ice cream in preventing chemotherapy-induced diarrhoea

“…Products were manufactured in a facility accredited by the Ministry for Primary Industries with an approved Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plan. They were administered orally as one 100-g serving of ice cream daily for 10-18 days pre-chemotherapy (for priming the gut [5,6]) and continued for 6 weeks from the start of chemotherapy (a total of 8 weeks±4 days). Randomisation was stratified and blocked by length of planned chemotherapy cycle (2 vs 3 weeks) and study site using random block sizes of 4 or 6.…”

“…AMF is a commercial food product that has been widely used in the food industry for many years. Animal data have shown that both iron-saturated lactoferrin and milk fat prevent chemotherapy-induced gut damage and aid recovery from neutropenia [5][6][7] and that the two components work synergistically (unpublished results). There have been over 20 studies in humans investigating lactoferrin's effect on iron absorption [8], Helicobacter pylori eradication [9], hepatitis C eradication [10], a variety of other infections [11], colonic polyps [12] and modulation of tumour growth [13], including two short-term trials involving high doses of fully iron-saturated lactoferrin [8,14].…”