Abstract
Chemoprotection refers to the use of specific natural or synthetic chemical agents to suppress or prevent the progression to cancer. The purpose of this study is to assess the protective effect of aspirin, vitamin C or zinc in a dimethyl hydrazine (DMH) colon carcinoma model in rats and to investigate the effect of these supplements on changes associated with colonic zinc status. Rats were randomly divided into three groups, group 1 (aspirin), group 2 (vitamin C) and group 3 (zinc), each being subdivided into two groups and given subcutaneous injection of DMH (30 mg/kg body wt) twice a week for 3 months and sacrificed at 4 months (A-precancer model) and 6 months (B-cancer model). Groups 1, 2, 3 were simultaneously given aspirin, vitamin C, or zinc supplement respectively from the beginning till the end of the study. It was observed that 87.5% of rats co-treated with aspirin or vitamin C showed normal colonic histology, along with a significant decrease in colonic tissue zinc at both time points. Rats co-treated with zinc showed 100% reduction in tumor incidence with no significant change in colonic tissue zinc. Plasma zinc, colonic CuZnSOD (copper-zinc superoxide dismutase) and alkaline phosphatase activity showed no significant changes in all 3 cotreated groups. These results suggest that aspirin, vitamin C or zinc given separately, exert a chemoprotective effect against chemically induced DMH colonic preneoplastic progression and colonic carcinogenesis in rats. The inhibitory effects are associated with maintaining the colonic tissue zinc levels and zinc enzymes at near normal without significant changes.
Highlights
The high incidence and mortality of colon cancer make effective prevention an important public-health and economic issue
The purpose of this study is to assess the protective effect of aspirin, vitamin C or zinc in a dimethyl hydrazine (DMH) colon carcinoma model in rats and to investigate the effect of these supplements on changes associated with colonic zinc status
These results suggest that aspirin, vitamin C or zinc given separately, exert a chemoprotective effect against chemically induced DMH colonic preneoplastic progression and colonic carcinogenesis in rats
Summary
The high incidence and mortality of colon cancer make effective prevention an important public-health and economic issue. One promising group of compounds with cancer protective activity includes Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) which display a protective effect on reducing the incidence of polyps and cancer of the large bowel. Recent epidemiological studies and clinical trials indicate that long term use of aspirin, could possibly decrease the incidence of certain malignancies, including colorectal, oesophageal, breast, lung and bladder cancers (Smalley and DuBois, 1997; Wang and DuBois, 2006; Bosseti et al, 2009). Aspirin, which is often used as an analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory agent is an irreversible inhibitor of COX and is said to reduce cancer cell proliferation and induce cancer cell apoptosis (Rosenberg et al, 1995; Fosslien, 2000; Ashktorab et al, 2005; Seung and Kim, 2008; Peter et al, 2009). The aim being to evaluate its role in reducing the incidence of carcinoma of colon, stomach, lung, bladder (Michael, 1992; Allison et al, 2006; Mahipal et al, 2006; Enrico and Peter, 2007; Jack et al, 2009)
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