People with compromised liver function may be able to reduce their risk of liver cancer or slow its progression with a simple dietary change: eating less protein. A Rutgers-led study in Science Advances found low-protein diets slowed liver tumor growth and cancer death in mice, uncovering a mechanism by which a liver’s impaired waste-handling machinery can inadvertently fuel cancer.
Liver cancer remains one of the deadliest primary cancers in the United States, with a five-year survival rate of about 22%. The American Cancer Society estimates there were 42,240 new cases in 2025 and 30,090 deaths. The number of U.S. residents with compromised liver function who face elevated cancer risk is far larger. About 1 in 4 U.S. adults has fatty liver disease, a condition that, along with viral hepatitis and heavy alcohol use, can raise the risk of cirrhosis as well as cancer.
“If you have liver disease or damage that prevents your liver from functioning correctly, you should seriously consider reducing your protein intake to lower the risk of developing liver cancer,” said the study’s senior author, Wei-Xing Zong, a distinguished professor at the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and a member of the Cancer Metabolism and Immunology Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute, the state’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. To read the full story.