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Thomas N. Seyfried

Bio: Thomas N. Seyfried is an academic researcher from Boston College. The author has contributed to research in topics: Ganglioside & Ketogenic diet. The author has an hindex of 61, co-authored 267 publications receiving 12442 citations. Previous affiliations of Thomas N. Seyfried include Dartmouth College & Boston University.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The view of metastatic cancer cells as a macrophage metabolic disease can provide novel insight for therapeutic management and explain the long-standing "seed and soil" hypothesis and the absence of metastasis in plant cancers.
Abstract: Metastasis involves the spread of cancer cells from the primary tumor to surrounding tissues and to distant organs and is the primary cause of cancer morbidity and mortality. In order to complete the metastatic cascade, cancer cells must detach from the primary tumor, intravasate into the circulatory and lymphatic systems, evade immune attack, extravasate at distant capillary beds, and invade and proliferate in distant organs. Currently, several hypotheses have been advanced to explain the origin of cancer metastasis. These involve an epithelial mesenchymal transition, an accumulation of mutations in stem cells, a macrophage facilitation process, and a macrophage origin involving either transformation or fusion hybridization with neoplastic cells. Many of the properties of metastatic cancer cells are also seen in normal macrophages. A macrophage origin of metastasis can also explain the long-standing "seed and soil" hypothesis and the absence of metastasis in plant cancers. The view of metastasis as a macrophage metabolic disease can provide novel insight for therapeutic management.

808 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Evidence is reviewed supporting a general hypothesis that genomic instability and essentially all hallmarks of cancer, including aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect), can be linked to impaired mitochondrial function and energy metabolism.
Abstract: Emerging evidence indicates that impaired cellular energy metabolism is the defining characteristic of nearly all cancers regardless of cellular or tissue origin. In contrast to normal cells, which derive most of their usable energy from oxidative phosphorylation, most cancer cells become heavily dependent on substrate level phosphorylation to meet energy demands. Evidence is reviewed supporting a general hypothesis that genomic instability and essentially all hallmarks of cancer, including aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect), can be linked to impaired mitochondrial function and energy metabolism. A view of cancer as primarily a metabolic disease will impact approaches to cancer management and prevention.

606 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Emerging findings from studies of animal models and human subjects suggest that intermittent energy restriction periods of as little as 16 h can improve health indicators and counteract disease processes.
Abstract: Although major research efforts have focused on how specific components of foodstuffs affect health, relatively little is known about a more fundamental aspect of diet, the frequency and circadian timing of meals, and potential benefits of intermittent periods with no or very low energy intakes. The most common eating pattern in modern societies, three meals plus snacks every day, is abnormal from an evolutionary perspective. Emerging findings from studies of animal models and human subjects suggest that intermittent energy restriction periods of as little as 16 h can improve health indicators and counteract disease processes. The mechanisms involve a metabolic shift to fat metabolism and ketone production, and stimulation of adaptive cellular stress responses that prevent and repair molecular damage. As data on the optimal frequency and timing of meals crystalizes, it will be critical to develop strategies to incorporate those eating patterns into health care policy and practice, and the lifestyles of the population.

394 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: As each individual is a unique metabolic entity, personalization of metabolic therapy as a broad-based cancer treatment strategy will require fine-tuning to match the therapy to an individual’s unique physiology.
Abstract: Emerging evidence indicates that cancer is primarily a metabolic disease involving disturbances in energy production through respiration and fermentation. The genomic instability observed in tumor cells and all other recognized hallmarks of cancer are considered downstream epiphenomena of the initial disturbance of cellular energy metabolism. The disturbances in tumor cell energy metabolism can be linked to abnormalities in the structure and function of the mitochondria. When viewed as a mitochondrial metabolic disease, the evolutionary theory of Lamarck can better explain cancer progression than can the evolutionary theory of Darwin. Cancer growth and progression can be managed following a whole body transition from fermentable metabolites, primarily glucose and glutamine, to respiratory metabolites, primarily ketone bodies. As each individual is a unique metabolic entity, personalization of metabolic therapy as a broad-based cancer treatment strategy will require fine-tuning to match the therapy to an individual’s unique physiology.

357 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Intracranial transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) delayed disease onset, preserved motor function, reduced pathology and prolonged survival in a mouse model of Sandhoff disease, a lethal gangliosidosis.
Abstract: Intracranial transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) delayed disease onset, preserved motor function, reduced pathology and prolonged survival in a mouse model of Sandhoff disease, a lethal gangliosidosis. Although donor-derived neurons were electrophysiologically active within chimeric regions, the small degree of neuronal replacement alone could not account for the improvement. NSCs also increased brain beta-hexosaminidase levels, reduced ganglioside storage and diminished activated microgliosis. Additionally, when oral glycosphingolipid biosynthesis inhibitors (beta-hexosaminidase substrate inhibitors) were combined with NSC transplantation, substantial synergy resulted. Efficacy extended to human NSCs, both to those isolated directly from the central nervous system (CNS) and to those derived secondarily from embryonic stem cells. Appreciating that NSCs exhibit a broad repertoire of potentially therapeutic actions, of which neuronal replacement is but one, may help in formulating rational multimodal strategies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

291 citations


Cited by
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Journal Article
TL;DR: For the next few weeks the course is going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach it’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery.
Abstract: So far in this course we have dealt entirely with the evolution of characters that are controlled by simple Mendelian inheritance at a single locus. There are notes on the course website about gametic disequilibrium and how allele frequencies change at two loci simultaneously, but we didn’t discuss them. In every example we’ve considered we’ve imagined that we could understand something about evolution by examining the evolution of a single gene. That’s the domain of classical population genetics. For the next few weeks we’re going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach we’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery. If you know a little about the history of evolutionary biology, you may know that after the rediscovery of Mendel’s work in 1900 there was a heated debate between the “biometricians” (e.g., Galton and Pearson) and the “Mendelians” (e.g., de Vries, Correns, Bateson, and Morgan). Biometricians asserted that the really important variation in evolution didn’t follow Mendelian rules. Height, weight, skin color, and similar traits seemed to

9,847 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
30 Sep 1994-Science
TL;DR: This article synthesizes the current state of the genetic dissection of complex traits--describing the methods, limitations, and recent applications to biological problems.
Abstract: Medical genetics was revolutionized during the 1980s by the application of genetic mapping to locate the genes responsible for simple Mendelian diseases. Most diseases and traits, however, do not follow simple inheritance patterns. Genetics have thus begun taking up the even greater challenge of the genetic dissection of complex traits. Four major approaches have been developed: linkage analysis, allele-sharing methods, association studies, and polygenic analysis of experimental crosses. This article synthesizes the current state of the genetic dissection of complex traits--describing the methods, limitations, and recent applications to biological problems.

3,216 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this paper, the coding exons of the family of 518 protein kinases were sequenced in 210 cancers of diverse histological types to explore the nature of the information that will be derived from cancer genome sequencing.
Abstract: AACR Centennial Conference: Translational Cancer Medicine-- Nov 4-8, 2007; Singapore PL02-05 All cancers are due to abnormalities in DNA. The availability of the human genome sequence has led to the proposal that resequencing of cancer genomes will reveal the full complement of somatic mutations and hence all the cancer genes. To explore the nature of the information that will be derived from cancer genome sequencing we have sequenced the coding exons of the family of 518 protein kinases, ~1.3Mb DNA per cancer sample, in 210 cancers of diverse histological types. Despite the screen being directed toward the coding regions of a gene family that has previously been strongly implicated in oncogenesis, the results indicate that the majority of somatic mutations detected are “passengers”. There is considerable variation in the number and pattern of these mutations between individual cancers, indicating substantial diversity of processes of molecular evolution between cancers. The imprints of exogenous mutagenic exposures, mutagenic treatment regimes and DNA repair defects can all be seen in the distinctive mutational signatures of individual cancers. This systematic mutation screen and others have previously yielded a number of cancer genes that are frequently mutated in one or more cancer types and which are now anticancer drug targets (for example BRAF , PIK3CA , and EGFR ). However, detailed analyses of the data from our screen additionally suggest that there exist a large number of additional “driver” mutations which are distributed across a substantial number of genes. It therefore appears that cells may be able to utilise mutations in a large repertoire of potential cancer genes to acquire the neoplastic phenotype. However, many of these genes are employed only infrequently. These findings may have implications for future anticancer drug development.

2,737 citations

01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this article, the landscape of somatic genomic alterations based on multidimensional and comprehensive characterization of more than 500 glioblastoma tumors (GBMs) was described, including several novel mutated genes as well as complex rearrangements of signature receptors, including EGFR and PDGFRA.
Abstract: We describe the landscape of somatic genomic alterations based on multidimensional and comprehensive characterization of more than 500 glioblastoma tumors (GBMs). We identify several novel mutated genes as well as complex rearrangements of signature receptors, including EGFR and PDGFRA. TERT promoter mutations are shown to correlate with elevated mRNA expression, supporting a role in telomerase reactivation. Correlative analyses confirm that the survival advantage of the proneural subtype is conferred by the G-CIMP phenotype, and MGMT DNA methylation may be a predictive biomarker for treatment response only in classical subtype GBM. Integrative analysis of genomic and proteomic profiles challenges the notion of therapeutic inhibition of a pathway as an alternative to inhibition of the target itself. These data will facilitate the discovery of therapeutic and diagnostic target candidates, the validation of research and clinical observations and the generation of unanticipated hypotheses that can advance our molecular understanding of this lethal cancer.

2,616 citations

01 Apr 2012
TL;DR: International experts in cancer prevention analyse global research on diet nutrition physical activity cancer and make public health policy recommendations, the fractions of cancer attributable to potentially modifiable factors are analyzed.
Abstract: physical activity and cancer fact sheet national cancer on this page what is physical activity what is known about the relationship between physical activity and cancer risk how might physical activity be, diet and cancer report american institute for cancer the american institute for cancer research aicr is the cancer charity that fosters research on diet and cancer prevention and educates the public about the results, download resources and toolkits world cancer research downloads for scientists from the wcrf aicr third expert report diet nutrition physical activity and cancer a global perspective, nutritional science university of washington school of public health school of public health nutritional science detailed course offerings time schedule are available for spring quarter 2019, 2019 aicr research conference american institute for about aicr we fund cutting edge research and give people practical tools and information to help them prevent and survive cancer more about aicr, agence fruits et l gumes frais aprifel the global fruit and veg newsletter is a monthly newsletter distributing to 29 countries involved in the promotion of the consumption of fruit and vegetable worldwide, world cancer research fund international we are experts in cancer prevention we analyse global research on diet nutrition physical activity cancer and make public health policy recommendations, the fractions of cancer attributable sciencedirect com a proportion of cancers at many body sites are attributable to potentially modifiable factors no global summaries of the preventable cancer burden have been, who controlling the global obesity epidemic more information obesity and overweight fact sheet who global strategy on diet physical activity and health who global database on body mass index, espen guidelines on nutrition in cancer patients gl nutrition in cancer patients outline o methods o1 basic information o2 methods o3 post publication impact a background a1 catabolic alterations in, un news global perspective human stories un news produces daily news content in arabic chinese english french kiswahili portuguese russian and spanish and weekly programmes in hindi urdu and bangla, recommended community strategies and measurements to table continued summary of recommended community strategies and measurements to prevent obesity in the united states strategies to encourage physical, food as medicine preventing treating the most dreaded food as medicine preventing treating the most dreaded diseases with diet, video resources bc cancer these videos help patients learn about their cancer and its treatment, prostate cancer nutrition and dietary supplements pdq nutrition methods and dietary supplements have been studied for prostate cancer prevention or treatment read about the history of research laboratory, who europe food safety food safety ingestion and handling of contaminated food causes significant illness and death worldwide across the who european region foodborne diseases, creating healthy food and eating environments policy and food and eating environments likely contribute to the increasing epidemic of obesity and chronic diseases over and above individual factors such as knowledge skills, health risks obesity prevention source harvard t h obesity and reproduction obesity can influence various aspects of reproduction from sexual activity to conception among women the association between, top nutrition schools undergraduate degree programs ncr want to know the top nutrition schools and best undergraduate degree programs here we review analyze rank rate them figure out which is best for you , overeating caloric restriction and breast cancer risk by this study analyzes the association of excessive energy intake and caloric restriction with breast cancer bc risk taking into account the individual, calcium what s best for your bones and health the possible increased risk of ovarian cancer high levels of galactose a sugar released by the digestion of lactose in milk have been studied as being, cancer protocol nutrition supplements cancer protocol nutrition supplements herbs enzymes note do not email me unless you would like a personalized protocol free with a suggested donation of 250

2,202 citations