Fasting regulates EGR1 and protects from glucose- and dexamethasone-dependent sensitization to chemotherapy
Fasting reduces glucose levels and protects mice against chemotoxicity, yet drugs that promote hyperglycemia are widely used in cancer treatment. Here, we show that dexamethasone (Dexa) and rapamycin (Rapa), commonly administered to cancer patients, elevate glucose and sensitize cardiomyocytes and mice to the cancer drug doxorubicin (DXR). Such toxicity can be reversed by reducing circulating glucose levels by fasting or insulin. Furthermore, glucose injections alone reversed the fasting-dependent protection against DXR in mice, indicating that elevated glucose mediates, at least in part, the sensitizing effects of rapamycin and dexamethasone. In yeast, glucose activates protein kinase A (P…
Correction: Fasting regulates EGR1 and protects from glucose- and dexamethasone-dependent sensitization to chemotherapy.
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2001951.].