Dietary changes ‘could aid breast cancer patients’

A new study has highlighted a potential link between calorie restriction and improved outcomes among women with breast cancer.

Research using mice from Thomas Jefferson University has suggested that this kind of diet – in which food intake is decreased by a certain percentage – may result in the triple-negative subtype of breast cancer becoming less likely to spread to other parts of the body.

When mouse models of triple-negative cancer had their diets restricted by 30 percent less, their cancer cells decreased production of microRNAs 17 and 20, a cell group often that often proliferates in metastatic cancer.

Calorie restriction was found to promote epigenetic changes in the breast tissue that kept the extracellular matrix strong, which in turn offered protective benefits.

Senior author Dr Nicole Simone, an associate professor in the department of Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University, explained: "A strong matrix creates a sort of cage around the tumour, making it more difficult for cancer cells to escape and spread to new sites in the body."

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with around 48,000 new cases diagnosed each year.