The Problem
Cancer can be considered a “wound that never heals,” meaning it represents a continuing inflammatory state.  Cancer causes a significant reprogramming of the cell’s metabolism to maintain increased cellular growth and metastatic spread to other organs.   

The Traditional Medical Approach
Cancer drugs work by either causing the death of the cancer cell, thus creating cell debris at the tumor site. The cellular debris from the dead cancer cell often becomes a smoldering site of a new source of inflammation.  Cancer drugs also cause normal cells exposed to the cancer treatment to become senescent, thereby increasing the acceleration of aging in every organ in the body.

The Metabolic Engineering® Approach
The goal of Metabolic Engineering® is to reduce inflammation at the cellular level by activating AMPK, which reduces the activity of other gene transcription factors (such as mTOR) that accelerate tumor growth (1). 

The foundation of Metabolic Engineering® is the Zone diet, which restricts calories without hunger or fatigue.  Calorie restriction is receiving more attention in cancer treatment (2). Recent research has demonstrated the resolvins generated from omega-3 fatty acids can speed up the removal of cell debris from cancer treatments in animals (3,4).  Likewise, the role of polyphenols in the modulation of oxidative stress in cancer is being recognized (5). 

Cancer drugs, unfortunately, cause the side-effect of generating a large number of senescent cells as a consequence of any treatment (6).  Thus, after any cancer treatment, using Metabolic Engineering® can minimize the inflammatory damage caused by the cancer treatment and enhance the repair of damaged tissue caused by the cancer treatment.  Thus,  Metabolic Engineering® should be considered a lifelong dietary system to help minimize the acceleration of aging associated with existing cancer treatments.

References
1. Populo H, Lopes JM, Soares P. IntThe mTOR signaling pathway in human cancer. J Mol Sci. 2012; 13:1886-1918. doi: 10.3390/ijms13021886.

2. Vidoni C, Ferraresi A, Esposito A, Maheshwari C, Dhanasekaran DN, Mollace V, Isidoro C.J Calorie restriction for cancer prevention and therapy: Mechanisms, expectations, and efficacy.  Cancer Prev. 2021; 26:224-236. doi: 10.15430/JCP.2021.26.4.224

3. Sulciner ML, Serhan CN, Gilligan MM, Mudge DK, Chang J, Gartung A, Lehner KA, Bielenberg DR, Schmidt B, Dalli J, Greene ER, Gus-Brautbar Y, Piwowarski J, Mammoto T, Zurakowski D, Perretti M, Sukhatme VP, Kaipainen A, Kieran MW, Huang S, Panigrahy D.J Resolvins suppress tumor growth and enhance cancer therapy. Exp Med. 2018; 215:115-140. doi: 10.1084/jem.20170681.

4. Fishbein A, Hammock BD, Serhan CN, Panigrahy D. Carcinogenesis:  Failure of resolution of inflammation?  Pharmacol Ther. 2021; 218:107670.doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2020.107670.

5. Mileo AM and Miccadei S. Polyphenols as a modulator of oxidative stress in cancer disease: New therapeutic strategies.  Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2016; 2016:6475624. doi: 10.1155/2016/6475624.

6. Xiao S, Qin D, Hou X, Tian L, Yu Y, Zhang R, Lyu H, Guo D, Chen XZ, Zhou C, Tang J.Cellular senescence: A double-edged sword in cancer therapy.  Front Oncol. 2023; 13:1189015. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1189015.