Nicole Simone
Thomas Jefferson University, USA
Title: Leveraging principles of aging to enhance cancer therapy
Biography
Biography: Nicole Simone
Abstract
The aging population in the United States will double from 2020 to 2060. Diseases of aging such as heart disease and cancer will therefore increase and the healthcare infrastructure must respond with therapies that are less toxic and tolerable for this population. Caloric restriction (CR) as an intervention has consistently been shown to extend life and reduce age-related chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, in animal models. CR does this by reducing oxidative stress and improving insulin sensitivity. Furthermore, breast cancer incidence in humans has been shown to be strongly correlated to dietary intake in retrospective studies. These observations have led the Simone laboratory to harness the principles of CR to use in combination with standard cancer treatment. In multiple preclinical models, we have shown that CR enhances the efficacy of radiation and chemotherapy. At the molecular level, it does so my decreasing oxidative stress and improving insulin sensitivity. We have now translated these findings into multiple clinical trials. Our pre-clinical and clinical findings, demonstrate the utility of harnessing the anti-aging properties of caloric restriction to enhance cytotoxic therapy for cancer.