This trial aims to assess the immunological and metabolic changes induced by the Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) in the pre-operative and post-operative setting in breast cancer and melanoma patients. Three cohorts of patients will be enrolled: 1) Cohort A: patients with resectable breast cancer (cT1N0M0 stage or cT1cN1M0-cT2cN0M0 stages not requiring pre-operative systemic treatment at the judgment of the investigator) who are candidate to curative surgery; 2) Cohort B: patients with malignant melanoma patients candidate to dissection of the lymph node basin because of a positive sentinel lymph node (stage IIIA-IIIB-IIIC); 3) Cohort C: patients with resected malignant melanoma (including radicalization and, in case, lymph node dissection) who are not candidate to any adjuvant treatment, but only to clinical and radiological follow-up (stage IIB-IIC). Patients in cohorts A and B will undergo one 5-days FMD cycle about 13-15 days before surgical removal of primary tumor (breast) or lymph nodes (breast, melanoma). Patients in cohort C will undergo 4 consecutive FMD cycles every 28 days, starting one month after surgery.
Preclinical evidences suggest that reducing the concentration of blood metabolites and growth factors reduces the in vivo growth of several tumor models, while protecting normal tissues from the cytotoxic effects of chemotherapeutical treatments. In recent years, a plant-based, calorie-restricted, low-carbohydrate, low-protein diet, also known as Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD), has been proposed as a potential anticancer dietary intervention. The FMD is safe when administered cyclically (every 21-28 days) to healthy volunteers, and is capable of significantly reducing the concentration of plasma glucose, serum insulin and IGF-1, while increasing levels of plasma IGFBPs and ketone bodies. The FMD has been shown to inhibit the in vivo growth of several tumor models, including breast cancer and melanoma mice models. The anticancer effects of the FMD are likely mediated by two concomitant mechanisms: 1) one direct anticancer effect that is mediated by the inhibition of energy production and anabolic pathways, such as protein and fatty acid synthesis, in cancer cells; 2) one indirect effect that is mediated by the activation of antitumor immunity, with the result of enhanced tumor infiltration by cytotoxic CD8+ T-lymphocytes and reduced infiltration by immunosuppressive populations. According to the currently accepted model, the anticancer and immunomodulatory effects of the FMD mostly derive from the reduction of circulating glucose, insulin and IGF-1 levels, and a parallel increase of ketone body and IGF-1 binding protein concentration. However, recent observations in healthy volunteers and cancer patients, suggest that FMD-mediated changes in many other metabolites, such as specific amino acids or fatty acids, could contribute to the cell-autonomous or immune-mediated anticancer effects of the FMD. While the study of the effects of the FMD in combination with standard treatments (e.g. chemotherapy, molecular targeted therapy) in advanced cancers represents the final objective of the ongoing studies, fully uncovering the metabolic and immunological effects of the FMD alone is essential to design future combination studies. From this perspective, the pre- and post-operative clinical settings in cancer patients who are not candidate to other medical treatments represent an ideal context to assess the effects of the FMD without other confounding factors. This trial primarily aims to assess the immunological and metabolic changes induced by the FMD in the pre-operative and post-operative setting in breast cancer and melanoma patients. Three cohorts of patients will be enrolled: 1) Cohort A: patients with resectable breast cancer (cT1N0M0 stage or cT1cN1M0-cT2cN0M0 stages not requiring pre-operative systemic treatment at the judgment of the investigator) who are candidate to curative surgery; 2) Cohort B: patients with malignant melanoma patients candidate to dissection of the lymph node basin because of a positive sentinel lymph node (stage IIIA-IIIB-IIIC); 3) Cohort C: patients with resected malignant melanoma (including radicalization and, in case, lymph node dissection) who are not candidate to any adjuvant treatment, but only to clinical and radiological follow-up (stage IIB-IIC). Patients in cohorts A and B will undergo one 5-days FMD cycle about 13-15 days before surgical removal of primary tumor (breast) or lymph nodes (breast, melanoma). Patients in cohort C will undergo 4 consecutive FMD cycles every 28 days, starting one month after surgery.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
100
The Fasting Mimicking Diet (or FMD) consists in a 5-day plant-based, low-calorie (about 600 Kcal on day 1, followed by about 300 KCal/day on days 2 to 5), low-carbohydrate low-protein diet
Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori
Milan, Italy
RECRUITINGAbsolute and relative changes in PBMCs
Absolute and relative changes in PBMCs by 10-color cytofluorimetry before and after the FMD.
Time frame: 3 years
Phenotypic modifications in PBMCs
Phenotypic modifications in PBMCs, as detected by by 10-colors citofluorimetry and single-cell "mass cytometry" (CyTOF)
Time frame: 3 years
Functional modifications in PBMCs
Functional modifications in PBMCs, as detected by by 10-colors citofluorimetry and single-cell "mass cytometry" (CyTOF)
Time frame: 3 years
Functional modifications in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes
Functional modifications in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, as detected by by 10-colors citofluorimetry and single-cell "mass cytometry" (CyTOF)
Time frame: 3 years
Phenotypic modifications in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes
Phenotypic modifications in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, as detected by by 10-colors citofluorimetry and single-cell "mass cytometry" (CyTOF)
Time frame: 3 years
Functional modifications of immune cell population in LNs
Functional modifications of immune cell populations in LNs, as detected by single-cell "mass cytometry" (CyTOF).
Time frame: 3 years
mRNA profiling in tumor cells
Gene expression profiling (through mRNA quantification) in tumor cells (Cohort A).
Time frame: 3 years
mRNA profiling in immune cells
Gene expression profiling (through mRNA quantification) in PBMCs and immune cell populations inside lymph nodes (Cohort B).
Time frame: 3 years
miRNA profiling in tumor cells
miRNA profiling in tumor cells (Cohort A)
Time frame: 3 years
miRNA profiling in immune cells
miRNA profiling in PBMCs and immune cell populations inside lymph nodes (Cohort B).
Time frame: 3 years
Changes in the expression of metabolic genes in PBMCs
Changes in the expression of selected metabolic genes (including hexokinase 1, phosphofructokinase 1, pyruvate kinase 2) through mRNA quantification in PBMCs before and after the FMD.
Time frame: 3 years
FMD-induced changes in blood metabolic parameters
FMD-induced changes in blood (glucose, triglycerides, fatty acids, cholesterol, amino acids)
Time frame: 3 years
FMD-induced changes in urine metabolites
FMD-induced changes in urine metabolites (ketone bodies)
Time frame: 3 years
FMD-induced changes in serum growth factors.
FMD-induced changes in serum growth factors.
Time frame: 3 years
Qualitative changes in tumor-infiltrating immune cells
Qualitative changes in the type of tumor-infiltrating immune cell populations before and after the diet in breast cancer patients undergoing curative surgery (Cohort A).
Time frame: 3 years
Quantitative changes in tumor-infiltrating immune cells
Quantitative changes in the number of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, machrophages, MDSCs before and after the diet in breast cancer patients undergoing curative surgery (Cohort A).
Time frame: 3 years
Changes in tumor proliferation
Changes in tumor proliferation index (Ki67) IHC in breast cancer patients (Cohort A).
Time frame: 3 years
Changes in tumor cell apoptosis
Changes in tumor cell apoptosis (caspase 3 by IHC) in breast cancer patients (Cohort A).
Time frame: 3 years
Changes in tumor metabolic pathways
Changes in tumor levels of glycolytic enzymes by IHC (Glut1, HK1, PFK1/2, PK2) in breast cancer patients (Cohort A).
Time frame: 3 years
Changes in expression of hormone receptors and HER2
Changes in expression of estrogen and/progesterone receptor and HER2 oncoprotein by IHC in breast cancer patients (Cohort A).
Time frame: 3 years
Qualitative changes in immune cell suspensions from lymph nodes
Changes in the type of immune cells (CD8+ T-lymhocytes, CD 4+ lymphocytes, Treg) found in lymph node suspensions of melanoma patients undergoing one FMD cycle before lymph node dissection (Cohort B).
Time frame: 3 years
Quantitative changes in immune cell suspensions from lymph nodes
Quantitative changes in the absolute and relative amount of immune cell populations in lymph node suspensions of melanoma patients undergoing one FMD cycle before lymph node dissection (Cohort B).
Time frame: 3 years
Changes in DNA methylomic profiles in lymph node specimens
Changes in genome-wide DNA methylomic profiles with high-density arrays in lymph node specimens from patients undergoing the FMD before surgery (Cohorts A and B).
Time frame: 3 years
Changes in DNA methylomic profiles in tumor specimens
Changes in genome-wide DNA methylomic profiles with high-density arrays in tumor specimens from patients undergoing the FMD before surgery (Cohorts A and B).
Time frame: 3 years
Changes in gut microbiota composition.
Changes in type of gut bacteria populations, as detected through 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing
Time frame: 3 years
Short-term modification of blood nutritional parameters.
Short-term (before vs after each FMD cycle) modification of blood nutritional parameters (levels of plasma cholesterol, prealbumin, transferrin, total lymphocytes)
Time frame: 3 years
Long-term modification of blood nutritional parameters.
Long-term (along subsequent FMD cycles) modification of blood nutritional parameters (levels of plasma cholesterol, realbumin, transferrin, total lymphocytes)
Time frame: 3 years
Short-term and long-term modification of BMI
Short-term and long-term modification of BMI
Time frame: 3 years
FMD-induced changes in white blood cell populations
FMD-induced changes in neutrophils, macrophages, lymphocytes
Time frame: 3 years
FMD-induced changes in hemoglobin
FMD-induced changes in hemoglobin
Time frame: 3 years
Assessment of patient compliance to the FMD.
Assessment of patient compliance to the FMD, as measured by quantifying the number of major and minor deviations of patients' diet relative to the prescribed FMD scheme
Time frame: 3 years
Assessment of FMD tolerability.
Assessment of FMD tolerability, as defined by the occurrence of G3-G4 adverse events, or serious adverse events (SAEs)
Time frame: 3 years
Correlation between FMD-induced changes in serum metabolites and changes in PBMCs
Correlation between FMD-induced changes in serum metabolites and changes in PBMCs, their activation status, and characteristics of tumor cell and immune infiltrate.
Time frame: 3 years
Correlation between FMD-induced metabolic and immunological changes
Correlation between FMD-induced metabolic and immunological changes with patient diet evaluated at study enrollment through food diaries.
Time frame: 3 years
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