Growth inhibition of subcutaneously transplanted hepatomas without cachexia by alteration of the dietary arginine‐methionine balance

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that alteration of the dietary arginine-methionine balance by use of synthetic L-amino acids inhibits tumor growth of a subcutaneously transplanted Morris hepatoma at the expense of maintaining body weight. However, L-methionine is susceptible to degradation and, therefore, may contribute to a deficiency state. The present studies were performed to determine whether growth of subcutaneous hepatoma transplants is inhibited, and body growth maintained, when rats are fed diets containing L-methionine in replacement of N-acetyl-L-methionine (NALM) for 28 days. Tumor-free and tumor-bearing rats fed a control diet, with amino acids replacing protein, had gains in body weight: 31.3 +/- 1.0 and 19.1 +/- 0.5 g (12% and 7%), respectively. Rats fed six experimental diets, with varying L-arginine-NALM balances, had body weight gains ranging from 18.4 +/- 0.3 to 26.7 +/- 0.9 g (7-10%). Tumor weight of control rats was 10.65 +/- 0.24% of body weight. Diets supplemented with L-arginine in combination with normal and deficient NALM decreased tumor weights by 35% and 38%, respectively, It is concluded that dietary replacement of L-methionine with NALM and supplementation with L-arginine inhibits growth of a subcutaneously transplanted Morris hepatoma in the absence of cachexia.

Impact of nutrition support on treatment outcome in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell cancer treated with definitive radiotherapy: A secondary analysis of RTOG trial 90-03

“…29 The stimulatory effect of TPN on tumor growth parameters is recognized in rodent research, and recent work has focused on manipulating specific dietary components to counteract this phenomenon. [30][31][32] Ye et al, 30 Millis et al, 31 and He et al 32 have all independently compared various nutrition formulations and found that manipulation of specific amino acid concentrations-focusing on arginine and methionine balance-inhibited tumor growth in tumor-bearing rodents. Interestingly, controversy exists in the literature as to whether TPN stimulates tumor growth in the animal model to a greater degree than oral dietary intake.…”

Effect of Protein Hydrolysates from Germinated Soybean on Cancerous Cells of the Human Cervix: An In Vitro Study

“…To date, a number of nutrients and micronutrients with anticancer properties have been identified in soybean, including isoflavones, phytosterols, inositol hexaphosphate, saponins, protease inhibitors, and bioactive peptides [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. The anticancer properties of soybean may also be due to its amino acid balance, since it has low methionine and high arginine content; both conditions are known to inhibit tumour development [9][10][11][12]. Moreover, different amino acids have antioxidant capacity [13].…”

Can Dietary Methionine Restriction Increase the Effectiveness of Chemotherapy in Treatment of Advanced Cancer?

“…Dietary methionine restriction causes regression of a variety of animal tumors and inhibits metastasis in animal models [12,17,19 -22]. For example, altering the dietary arginine-methionine balance inhibited tumor growth without causing cachexia in rats with subcutaneously transplanted Morris hepatoma [21,22]. Also, substituting homocysteine for methionine reduced tumor growth and metastasis in a rat rhabdomyosarcoma cell line [12,17].…”