Fasting Reduces Intestinal Radiotoxicity, Enabling Dose-Escalated Radiation Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Chemotherapy combined with radiation therapy is the most commonly used approach for treating locally advanced pancreatic cancer. The use of curative doses of radiation in this disease setting is constrained because of the close proximity of the head of the pancreas to the duodenum. The purpose of this study was to determine whether fasting protects the duodenum from high-dose radiation, thereby enabling dose escalation for efficient killing of pancreatic tumor cells.

Methods and materials

C57BL/6J mice were either fed or fasted for 24 hours and then exposed to total abdominal radiation at 11.5 Gy. Food intake, body weight, overall health, and survival were monitored. Small intestines were harvested at various time points after radiation, and villi length, crypt depth

SUBMITTER: de la Cruz Bonilla M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6754784 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature