Figure 1. The ketogenic diet enhances chemo-radiation responses in H292 lung cancer xenografts.

Nude mice (5-16 animals per group) were injected with H292 cells in the flank and tumors allowed to grow to 30 mm³. Treated mice were given 3 × 15 mg/kg carboplatin doses on three consecutive Mondays. Following each of the first two doses of carboplatin the mice were irradiated with three × 2 Gy IR fractions Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 2 weeks (12 Gy total dose) followed one final carboplatin dose on the following Monday. The KD started 2 days prior to the first chemo-radiation dose and continued until two days following the last dose for a total of 16 days. When maximum tumor diameter exceeded 1.5 cm, mice were sacrificed. (A) Tumor volume growth curve estimates using mixed linear regression analysis demonstrate that KD significantly (P<0.05) decreases tumor growth rates when combined with IR and carboplatin-IR, relative to IR and carboplatin-IR alone, respectively. (B) Pair wise group comparisons of Kaplan-Meir survival curves demonstrate that KD significantly enhances IR response (p<0.05), relative to IR alone, and approaches significance for carbo-IR sensitivity (p<0.06). (C) Pair wise group comparisons of animal weights demonstrate that all treatments were well tolerated as demonstrated by a lack of significant weight change (errors omitted for clarity).