Research groups* within the Erasmus MC Transplant Institute, the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology and the University Medical Center Groningen are conducting 3 clinical studies into the effect of different types of calorie-restricted diets on various diseases and operations. Recently, all three study protocols have been approved and published (Frontiers in Pediatrics, Trials and BMJ Open) and the inclusion of patients and donors is well underway.
(Pre)clinical research at the Transplantation Institute and the Molecular Genetics department of the Erasmus MC and the Genome Instability and Nutrition department of the Princess Máxima Center has shown that with reducing calories, the body invests its energy less in growth and more in resilience and protection. It is therefore more resistant against the consequences of (cancer) surgery or (chemo)therapy.
- In a clinical trial at the Erasmus MC Transplant Institute, the effect of a calorie- and carbohydrate-restricted (ketogenic) diet on the course of benign liver adenomas is being investigated.
- At the Princess Máxima Center, researchers are investigating a preoperative fasting diet for children that are treated for a kidney tumor (Wilms Tumor) by surgery.
- The Erasmus MC Transplant Institute and UMCG are jointly conducting a randomized controlled trial into the effects of a preoperative fasting diet for living kidney donation and transplantations.
Oncode researcher Wilbert Vermeij, Senior Postdoc/co-PI in the Jan Hoeijmakers Group, explains: “Many children that are cured from cancer are later, unfortunately, confronted with lasting effects of the treatment affecting their quality of life. The aim of our group is to find ways to prevent or reduce these long-term side-effects through nutritional interventions. We know that operations give a lot of (oxidative) damage to the surrounding tissue and we are very interested to find out whether short-term fasting prior to surgery improves recovery and reduces damage to tissues.”
Oncode researcher Chris Oudmaijer, PhD student/clinician at the Princess Máxima Center and Erasmus MC Transplant Institute, adds: “We have a unique collaboration, because our team of 3 PhD-students work with clinicians, nurses, transplantation coordinators, OR-teams and outpatient clinic personnel in three different hospitals. This gives us the opportunity to get the best of all three worlds and to exchange expertise and knowledge. We aim to provide the best available care patients and donors need: now and in the future!”
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*Prof. Dr. Jan IJzermans, Prof. Dr. Jan Hoeijmakers, Prof. Dr. Marry van den Heuvel, Dr. Robert Pol, Dr. Robert Minnee, Dr. Wilbert Vermeij, Drs. Chris Oudmaijer, Drs. Winnie van den Boogaard and Drs. Daphne Komninos.