ReviewJournal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR2019
Effects of short-term fasting on cancer treatment.
Review in Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 68 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
DIRECT-2: Fasting Mimicking Diet Program to ImpRovE ChemoTherapy in HR+, HER2- Breast Cancer
A Randomized Controlled Study of a Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) in Conjunction With Combination Carboplatin and Paclitaxel in the Treatment of Patients With Advanced or Recurrent Ovarian, Fallopian Tube and Primary Peritoneal Cancer
Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 138 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of Exercise or Diet or Combined Interventions on Treatment Efficacy of Chemotherapy for Cancer: A Systematic Review.Current nutrition reports · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The underexplored links between cancer and the internal body climate: Implications for cancer prevention and treatment.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Pooled it
- Perspective: Do Fasting, Caloric Restriction, and Diets Increase Sensitivity to Radiotherapy? A Literature Review.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2020Pooled it
- Quality of life and illness perceptions in patients with breast cancer using a fasting mimicking diet as an adjunct to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the phase 2 DIRECT (BOOG 2013-14) trial.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2021Trial
- Sex-Specific Responses to Intermittent Fasting: A Narrative Review Across Physiological, Clinical, and Psychosocial Contexts.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Intermittent fasting enhances cancer therapyWorld journal of clinical oncology · 2026Review
- Immunometabolic Gatekeeping: Reconciling Peto's & the T-cell Infiltration Prognostic Paradox.ArXiv · 2025Article
- Aging-Related Mechanisms Underlying Carcinogenesis: Therapeutic Opportunities.Aging and disease · 2025Review
- Monitoring the Biological Impact and Therapeutic Potential of Intermittent Fasting in Oncology: Assessing Strategies and Clinical Translational Challenges.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Tumor metabolome remolded by low dose mitochondrial uncoupler elicites robust CD8Cell death discovery · 2025Article
- The Role of Intermittent Fasting in the Activation of Autophagy Processes in the Context of Cancer Diseases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Clinical research framework proposal for ketogenic metabolic therapy in glioblastoma.BMC medicine · 2024Review
- Evaluation of the Clinical Safety of the Low-Cost Warburg Therapy for the Treatment of Patients With Advanced Cancers.Cancer medicine · 2024Article
- Resistance Management for Cancer: Lessons from Farmers.Cancer research · 2024Review
- Nutrition, GH/IGF-1 signaling, and cancer.Endocrine-related cancer · 2024Review
- Systematic Review and Clinical Insights: The Role of the Ketogenic Diet in Managing Glioblastoma in Cancer Neuroscience.Journal of personalized medicine · 2024Review
- Effect of short-term fasting on the cisplatin activity in human oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line HN5 and chemotherapy side effects.BMC cancer · 2024Article
- Metabolic dysregulation in obese women and the carcinogenesis of gynecological tumors: A review.Biomolecules & biomedicine · 2024Review
- Ketogenic metabolic therapy in conjunction with standard treatment for glioblastoma: A case report.Oncology letters · 2024Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Growing preclinical evidence shows that short-term fasting (STF) protects from toxicity while enhancing the efficacy of a variety of chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of various tumour types. STF reinforces stress resistance of healthy cells, while tumor cells become even more sensitive to toxins, perhaps through shortage of nutrients to satisfy their needs in the context of high proliferation rates and/or loss of flexibility to respond to extreme circumstances. In humans, STF may be a feasible approach to enhance the efficacy and tolerability of chemotherapy. Clinical research evaluating the potential of STF is in its infancy. This review focuses on the molecular background, current knowledge and clinical trials evaluating the effects of STF in cancer treatment. Preliminary data show that STF is safe, but challenging in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Ongoing clinical trials need to unravel if STF can also diminish toxicity and increase efficacy of chemotherapeutic regimes in daily practice.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.