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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Oct 26.
Published in final edited form as: Annu Rev Nutr. 2020 Jun 16;40:273–297. doi: 10.1146/annurev-nutr-013120-041149

Table 3:

Preclinical trials of ketogenic diets on cancer outcome

Cancer (cell line) Animal Route Diet Scheme Effect of diet alone Effect of diet with treatment Ref
Breast (4T1) BALB/C mice SQ 70% of AL of 2% CHO and 93.4% fat calories diet Reduced tumor growth Enhanced antitumor effect of metformin (197)
Glioma (GL261 cells) Male albino C57BL/6 mice Orthotopic AL 3% CHO and 72% fat calories diet Prolonged survival Synergy with irradiation (3, 101)
Glioma (GL261) Female albino C57BL/6 Orthotopic AL 3% CHO and 72% fat calories diet Prolonged survival Synergistic with whole brain irradiation (3, 182)
Lung (NCI-H292 and A549 cells) Female athymic-nu/nu mice SQ AL 1.6% CHO and 90% fat calories diet No effect of KD alone on tumor volume or survival Enhanced tumor response and survival with irradiation ± carboplatin (5)
Medulloblastoma (cells from above mice) NOD/SCID SQ AL 6:1 3.2% CHO and 75.1% fat paste diet No effect on tumor growth No effect on SMO inhibitor GDC-0449 antitumor activity (37)
Neuroblastoma (SK-N-BE(2) and SH-SY5Y cells) Female CD1-nu SQ AL or 2/3 AL KD with 8% CHO and 78% fat calories CR KD slowed tumor growth and prolonged survival of both tumors. AL KD only slowed tumor growth and prolonged survival for SK-N-BE(2) tumors Both diets slowed growth of KH-SY5Y tumors but not SK-N-BE(2) tumors during cyclophosphamide treatment (118, 119)

AL: ad libitum; CHO: carbohydrates; KD: ketogenic diet; SMO: smoothened gene, a component of the sonic hedgehog pathway.