Mechanistically, the synergizing effects of the fasting-mimicking diet were associated with increased autophagy in the cancer cells and reduced heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in the microenvironment, causing increased circulating CD8+ T cells and reduced Treg cells, and resulting in enhanced immunosurveillance and clearance of tumor cells [41, 47]. This evidence concerns the gene HMOX1 and cancer.