KETO-Lung v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
KETO-Lung: Assessing the impact of the adoption of a continuous ketogenic diet therapy on the efficacy of combination chemo-immunotherapy using paclitaxel/carboplatin/pembrolizumab in advanced squamous cell cancer of the lung.
IRAS ID
333096
Contact name
Gary Middleton
Contact email
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN73427832
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Squamous cell lung cancer (LUSC) - a type of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 9000 deaths each year in the UK alone. Some lung cancers respond well to treatments that target the genetic changes that drive cancer growth. However, that approach does not work in LUSC so different approaches are urgently needed.
There has always been interest in whether changing diet can affect cancer and its treatment, but studies have been too small to prove if they have any effect. It is likely that only certain cancers will respond to changes in diet. We believe that LUSC is a prime candidate, as it takes up high levels of glucose from the blood stream to fuel its growth and to protect itself from damaging substances known as ‘reactive oxygen species’ (ROS).
Standard treatment for LUSC involves a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy: the immunotherapy enables the patients’ immune cells to fight their own cancer, the chemotherapy produces a lot of ROS. Experiments have shown that reducing the glucose uptake of cancer cells increases chemotherapy effects in LUSC by reducing the ability of cancer cells to protect themselves from ROS.
One way of reducing glucose availability is to follow a ketogenic diet, a very low carbohydrate, high fat, moderate protein diet as a therapy. The low carbohydrate intake causes the body to convert fats into ketones to use as an additional source of energy. Experiments have shown that combining chemotherapy with ketogenic diet is more effective at controlling LUSC growth than chemotherapy alone. Importantly, ketogenic diet and ketone bodies have been shown to improve the effects of immunotherapy. We believe LUSC could respond to dietary change using a ketogenic diet, enabling both chemotherapy and immunotherapy to work more effectively, hopefully improving current outcomes.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/WM/0096
Date of REC Opinion
15 May 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion