An Immune-Modulating Diet in Combination with Chemotherapy Prevents Cancer Cachexia by Attenuating Systemic Inflammation in Colon 26 Tumor-Bearing Mice

Abstract

Cancer cachexia is characterized by muscle wasting caused partly by systemic inflammation. We previously demonstrated an immune-modulating diet (IMD), an enteral diet enriched with immunonutrition and whey-hydrolyzed peptides, to have antiinflammatory effects in some experimental models. Here, we investigated whether the IMD in combination with chemotherapy could prevent cancer cachexia in colon 26 tumor-bearing mice. Forty tumor-bearing mice were randomized into 5 groups: tumor-bearing control (TB), low dose 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and standard diet (LF/ST), low dose 5-FU and IMD (LF/IMD), high dose 5-FU and standard diet (HF/ST) and high dose 5-FU and IMD (HF/IMD). The ST and IMD mice received a standard diet or the IMD ad libitum for 21 days. Muscle mass in the IMD mice was significantly higher than that in the ST mice. The LF/IMD in addition to the HF/ST and HF/IMD mice preserved their body and carcass weights. Plasma prostaglandin E₂ levels were significantly lower in the IMD mice than in the ST mice. A combined effect was also observed in plasma interleukin-6, glucose, and vascular endothelial growth factor levels. Tumor weight was not affected by different diets. In conclusion, the IMD in combination with chemotherapy prevented cancer cachexia without suppressing chemotherapeutic efficacy.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was performed at the Food Science Research Laboratories, Meiji Co., Ltd., Kanagawa, Japan.

Funding

This work was supported by Meiji Co., Ltd. We thank Hisae Kume, Keiko Okazaki and Kentaro Ito for their technical support. We appreciate Dr. Takao Yamori of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research for providing the colon carcinoma 26 adenocarcinoma cells.