黑料吃瓜群网

Sixty-year-old Rolf Sulzle recently retired from a career as a toolmaker, having lived his life in reasonably good health, until he was suddenly diagnosed with an aggressive IDH1 mutant brain cancer in May this year and told he had just three months to live.

Cancer is rife in Rolf鈥檚 family, having been responsible for the deaths of his mother, brother and sister.

鈥淢y wife and colleagues were the first to notice the symptoms, changes that I couldn鈥檛 see in myself; odd behaviour, being distant and less responsive,鈥� Rolf said.

鈥淭he doctor thought I might鈥檝e had depression, until the scans showed a large tumour on the left side of my brain; it was a real shock.鈥�

A successful surgery removed 99% of the tumour, buying Rolf more time. He鈥檚 now undergoing chemotherapy targeting the remaining cancer cells.

鈥淭hey told me if I鈥檇 gone another few weeks without treatment, I would鈥檝e been dead,鈥� Rolf said.

Rolf cares for his wife Julie, who lives with a crippling auto-immune disorder, and says his main concern is staying alive as long as he can to look after her. 鈥淭he advice I鈥檝e been given so far is to live every day like it鈥檚 my last,鈥� Rolf said.

IDH1, fats and food

The IDH1 gene mutation reprograms the cell and is commonly found in the blood cancer, acute myeloid leukaemia, bone cancer called chondrosarcoma, bile duct cancer and low-grade glioma, a type of brain cancer.

Researchers from the聽South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and University of Adelaide, led by Dr Daniel Thomas, have聽debunked the theory that diet has no impact on tumours. In a new study, published in Cancer Discovery, the team has reported that聽food could play a major role in stopping the growth of some cancers.

The study showed cancers with IDH1 gene mutations can鈥檛 grow without lipids; a group of naturally occurring molecules, namely fats, contained in various foods such as butter and ice cream.

鈥淲e replicated the results in a range of cancer types, comparing a regular diet with one that was completely fat-free and were surprised to find tumours with IDH1 were stopped in their tracks when starved of lipids,鈥� Thomas said.

鈥淢ore work needs to be done to substantiate our findings in humans long term, but for anyone with an IDH1 mutant cancer like Rolf, our research suggests erring on the side of caution by avoiding foods that are high in saturated fats,鈥� Thomas said.

鈥淚f there鈥檚 a chance, I can get some extra time out of being more careful with what I鈥檓 eating, I鈥檒l absolutely do it,鈥� Rolf said.

It鈥檚 a timely discovery, with the country鈥檚 first proton therapy facility soon to be established at the Australian Bragg Centre, according to the institute.

Funded by the 黑料吃瓜群网 Research Foundation Group, Snowdome Foundation and the Leukaemia Foundation, the study was conducted in collaboration with Stanford University.

Targeted therapies

SAHMRI could become the first in the world to combine IDH1 targeting with proton therapy and tailored small molecule therapies, said the institute in a statement.

鈥淭hese findings may eventually lead to an increase in survivorship in patients who鈥檙e in remission following treatment of IDH1 cancers using proton therapy or radiotherapy,鈥� Thomas said.

鈥淲e鈥檙e quickly learning every little bit counts to achieve remission and improve survivorship without excessive chemotherapy.鈥�

The study opens the door for long-term patient studies that would allow researchers to prove definitively if a diet low in lipids or lipid-lowering drugs can stop these tumours growing, the statement said.

Image credit: iStockphoto.com/fstop123