Objective
Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer in European non-smokers. Dietary changes might reduce the incidence up to 70%, according to epidemiological reports, but the dietary factor initiating them is not known. Researchers in the proposed outgoing organisation have recently found that rats given a diet with reduced thiamin (vitamin B1) for 4 months have small patches in their colons, ACF, that are recognised as precursors to colon cancer (Bruce et al, Cancer Lett. 2003). Furthermore, they have found with studies in tissue culture that the toxic effects of reduced thiamin are markedly worse when the cells are exposed to an oxidative stress (Shangari et al, Biochem. Soc. Trans. 2003).
We want to use these preliminary findings as a base to find out whether the combination of reduced thiamin and an oxidative stress from cooked food increases the formation of ACF in the colons of rats at 4 months and whether it will result in colon cancer if extended for a longer period. This will be extended to other natural sources of oxidative stress such as red meat and sucrose. We also want to investigate biochemical measures from blood samples from these animals that can be used as biomarkers of thiamin deficiency and oxidative stress. The final stage would be to correlate biomarkers with the development of colon carcinogenesis in vivo. Our expectation is that these diet changes, reduced thiamin and cooked food, will result in colon cancer in the rat, and that the biochemical measures associated with the development of the tumours can be used to assess this risk in humans.
Fields of science
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteins
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologycolorectal cancer
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryheterocyclic compounds
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryamines
Keywords
Call for proposal
FP6-2002-MOBILITY-6
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Funding Scheme
OIF - Marie Curie actions-Outgoing International FellowshipsCoordinator
PARIS
France