Maayan Levy Profile picture
Research lab @Penn @PennMicro, studying metabolites and their impact on physiology and disease

Apr 27, 2022, 8 tweets

We are excited to share our new work @Nature with @ThaissLab, uncovering the impact of ketogenic diet and beta-hydroxybutyrate on colorectal cancer, led by @OxDmitrieva. (1/7)

nature.com/articles/s4158…

We screened different diets for their potential to inhibit the development of colorectal cancer, and found that ketogenic diets had the most potent effect, in collaboration with @SGrivennikov. (2/7)

Ketogenic diets induce hepatic ketogenesis, similar to long periods of #fasting. We found that the ketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) was similarly protective against colorectal cancer as ketogenic diet. (3/7)

How do ketogenic diets and BHB inhibit the growth of colorectal cancer? We teamed up with @jonepstein1 and Raj Jain to discover that the anti-cancer effect was mediated by the transcriptional regulator Hopx. (4/7)

How is Hopx regulated by ketogenic diet and BHB? In collaboration with @KlausKaestner and @berger_lab, we ruled out epigenetic effects. A CRISPR screen showed that the regulation of Hopx and its tumor-inhibitory effect was mediated by the BHB receptor GPR109A/HCAR2. (5/7)

The BHB-Hopx pathway also suppresses the growth of human colorectal cancer cells, which we found together with Bryson Katona, Chris Lengner, @KHamiltonPhD, and @beyazlab. (6/7)

This discovery might provide us with a powerful tool in the fight against colorectal cancer. However, before making any recommendations about #ketogenic #diet and BHB for prevention or treatment, we need to wait for the results of clinical trials. Stay tuned! (7/7)

Here is an open link to the PDF:
rdcu.be/cMeP1

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