Study Finds Diet And Lifestyle Critical To Recovery

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Study Finds Diet And Lifestyle Critical To Recovery

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/94455.php

Diet and lifestyle may play a much more significant role in a

person's ability to respond favourably to certain drugs, including

some cancer therapies, than previously understood, say scientists.

Writing in Nature Genetics, University of Manchester researchers

have shown how the nutrients in the environment are critical to the

fitness of cells that carry genetic mutations caused by diseases.

The findings for the first time provide a scientific insight into

why some people might respond better to certain medications than

others and form the foundations for more individualised drug therapy

in the future.

The team used baker's yeast - a model organism studied by biologists

to reveal molecular processes in higher organisms - to explore the

relationship between environment and genetic background.

The large-scale study involved removing one of the two copies of all

yeast genes - similar to removing one parent's set of genes in a

human - and analysing the resulting fitness under different dietary

restrictions.

" If the gene targeted is quantitatively important, you would

normally expect the yeast to show a reduction in fitness, " said Dr

a Delneri, who carried out the research in the University's

Faculty of Life Sciences.

" But what we found was that in certain environmental conditions,

removing one copy of certain genes actually produced the opposite

effect and surprisingly the yeast cells grew more quickly and were

healthier. "

The team further established that this effect was mainly occurring

in genes involved in the proteasome - the quality-control system

within the cell that degrades unwanted proteins.

" The proteasome is important as it maintains the equilibrium of the

cell, " said Dr Delneri. " When this equilibrium is lost it can result

in a number of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, Huntingdon's,

Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

" For example, in rapidly-growing cancerous cells the high proteasome

activity renders the tumour cells immortal, so drugs that block or

inhibit the proteasome's actions are currently used as therapeutic

compounds.

" Our study shows that reduced proteasome activity could be either

advantageous or damaging to the cell depending on the nutrients

available to it in the surrounding environment. "

The findings suggest that, ideally, when therapeutic drugs are

administered to alter the proteasome activity, the environment -

governed by the type of tissue or a person's diet and lifestyle -

should be taken into consideration to assure the correct beneficial

effect.