Abstract
The role of dietary profiles in promoting or reducing the risk of multiple types of cancer is increasingly clear, driving the search for balanced foods and nutraceuticals. The red seaweed Grateloupia turuturu has been used as human food showing a balanced nutritional profile. This study aims to test in vivo chemopreventive effects of G. turuturu against cutaneous pre-malignant lesions in transgenic mice for the human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16). Forty-four female HPV+/− or HPV−/− mice received a standard diet or were supplemented with 10% G. turuturu for 22 consecutive days. Cutaneous lesions (ear and chest skin) were identified histologically. Complementarily, the weights and histology of internal organs as well as blood biochemical and DNA integrity parameters were also assessed. G. turuturu consistently reduced the incidence of epidermal dysplasia induced by HPV16 on both cutaneous sites. Moreover, biochemical, DNA integrity and histological analyses confirmed G. turuturu edibility as no signs of toxicity were found. Dietary supplementation with G. turuturu is an effective and safe chemopreventive strategy in this model.
Highlights
We employed a well-characterized in vivo mouse model of lesions induced by human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) [22]
Transgenic mice carrying one, two or—as in this case—all the HPV16 oncogenes have been previously used by our research group and others to study the development of cervical [31], anal [32]
We observed a marked reduction in the progression of epidermal lesions in transgenic mice supplemented with G. turuturu, which showed only between one-third and one-sixth of the dysplastic lesions detected in matched non-supplemented mice
Summary
Seaweeds are very promising when it comes to their use as a source of primary and secondary bioactive metabolites [1–3]. They are rich in vitamins, minerals and fatty acids [4–7] and have long been used as a functional food, in Asian countries, where they are associated with high average life expectancies [6]. Grateloupia turuturu (phylum Rhodophyta), native from Japan, has been reported to typically contain only 2.6% lipids [10], which supports its use as food in the context of a healthy diet. Polysaccharides from Grateloupia spp. have shown interesting anti-neoplastic activities in vitro [12,13] and in vivo [12,14,15], suggesting that these seaweeds may be useful functional foods for cancer prevention, as part of a healthy lifestyle
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