Project description:Obesity is an independent risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC) although the underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated. Dietary nutrients play a key role in both the prevention and promotion of CRC. While iron is an essential nutrient, excess iron is associated with carcinogenesis. Unlike the systemic compartment, the intestinal lumen lacks an efficient system to regulate iron. In conditions when dietary iron malabsorption and intestinal inflammation co-exist, greater luminal iron is associated with increased intestinal inflammation and a shift in the gut microbiota to more pro-inflammatory strains. However, treatments designed to reduce luminal, including diet restriction and chelation, are associated with lower intestinal inflammation and the colonization of protective gut microbes. Obesity is associated with inflammation-induced, hepcidin-mediated, iron metabolism dysfunction characterized by iron deficiency and dietary iron malabsorption. Obesity is also linked to intestinal inflammation. Currently, there is a fundamental gap in understanding how altered iron metabolism impacts CRC risk in obesity.
The investigator’s objective is to conduct a crossover controlled feeding trial of: 1) a "Typical American" diet with "high" heme/non-heme iron", 2) a "Typical American" diet with "low" iron, and 3) a Mediterranean diet with "high" non heme iron and examine effects on colonic and systemic inflammation and the gut microbiome.
Project description:Several aspects common to a Western lifestyle, including obesity and decreased physical activity, are known risks for gastrointestinal cancers. There is an increasing amount of evidence suggesting that diet profoundly affects the composition of the intestinal microbiota. Moreover, there is now unequivocal evidence linking a dysbiotic gut to cancer development. Yet, the mechanisms through which high-fat diet (HFD)-mediated changes in the microbial community impact the severity of tumorigenesis in the gut, remain to be determined. Here we demonstrate that HFD promotes tumor progression in the small intestine of genetically susceptible K-rasG12Dint mice independent of obesity. HFD consumption in conjunction with K-Ras mutation mediates a shift in the composition of gut microbiota, which is associated with a decrease in Paneth cell antimicrobial host defense that compromises dendritic cell (DC) recruitment and MHC-II presentation in the gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALTs). DC recruitment in GALTs can be normalized, and tumor progression attenuated completely, when K-rasG12Dint mice are supplemented with the short-chain fatty acid butyrate, a bacterial fermentation endproduct. Importantly, Myd88-deficiency completely blocks tumor progression in K-rasG12Dint mice. Transfer of fecal samples from diseased donors into healthy adult K-rasG12Dint mice is sufficient to transmit disease in the absence of HFD. Furthermore, treatment with antibiotics completely blocks HFD-induced tumor progression, suggesting a pivotal role for distinct microbial shifts in aggravating disease in the small intestine. Collectively, these data underscore the importance of the reciprocal interaction between host and environmental factors in selecting intestinal microbiota that favor carcinogenesis, and suggest tumorigenesis may be transmissible among genetically predisposed individuals. 3 mice each for each treatment.
Project description:Background: Post-menopausal obesity is an established risk factor for breast cancer. Consumption of diets high in fat is known to be highly correlated with obesity. In this, we sought to evaluate the interaction(s) between high fat diet, weight gain and mammary carcinogenesis using an obese-resistant and obese-prone rat model with direct correlates to human disease. Methods: Female obese-prone (OP) and obese-resistant (OR) weanling rats were placed on either a low fat (10% kcal) or a high fat (39% kcal) n-6 polyunsaturated (PUFA) safflower diet for 30 days. At post natal day (PND) 50, global gene expression profiling was performed on microdissected mammary epithlelium from one cohort of rats and another cohort of rats were given a single oral gavage of either 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA at 14 mg/kg) or vehicle. Rats were then maintained on the diets and body weights, food consumption and development of mammary lesions were monitored weekly. Results: The DMBA-treated OR rats on the 39% safflower diet had significantly greater incidence of ductal carcinoma-in-situ (DCIS) lesions and significantly greater DCIS multiplicity than DMBA-treated OR rats on the 10% safflower diet. These differences were not seen in the OP strain. Gene expression analysis of mammary ductal epithelium from OR rats on the high fat diet showed significant upregulation of proliferation-related genes compared to those consuming the low fat safflower diet. Again, these differences were not seen in the OP strain. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that consumption of high fat safflower diet enhances mammary carcinogenesis in an OR rat strain through increased proliferation of mammary epithelium at the time of exposure, but not in the OP rat strain. Thus, the diet-induced increase in sensitivity was strain-specific and independent of weight gain or obesity level.
Project description:Background: Post-menopausal obesity is an established risk factor for breast cancer. Consumption of diets high in fat is known to be highly correlated with obesity. In this, we sought to evaluate the interaction(s) between high fat diet, weight gain and mammary carcinogenesis using an obese-resistant and obese-prone rat model with direct correlates to human disease. Methods: Female obese-prone (OP) and obese-resistant (OR) weanling rats were placed on either a low fat (10% kcal) or a high fat (39% kcal) n-6 polyunsaturated (PUFA) safflower diet for 30 days. At post natal day (PND) 50, global gene expression profiling was performed on microdissected mammary epithlelium from one cohort of rats and another cohort of rats were given a single oral gavage of either 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA at 14 mg/kg) or vehicle. Rats were then maintained on the diets and body weights, food consumption and development of mammary lesions were monitored weekly. Results: The DMBA-treated OR rats on the 39% safflower diet had significantly greater incidence of ductal carcinoma-in-situ (DCIS) lesions and significantly greater DCIS multiplicity than DMBA-treated OR rats on the 10% safflower diet. These differences were not seen in the OP strain. Gene expression analysis of mammary ductal epithelium from OR rats on the high fat diet showed significant upregulation of proliferation-related genes compared to those consuming the low fat safflower diet. Again, these differences were not seen in the OP strain. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that consumption of high fat safflower diet enhances mammary carcinogenesis in an OR rat strain through increased proliferation of mammary epithelium at the time of exposure, but not in the OP rat strain. Thus, the diet-induced increase in sensitivity was strain-specific and independent of weight gain or obesity level. Female obese-prone (OP) and obese-resistant (OR) weanling rats were placed on either a low fat (10% kcal) or a high fat (39% kcal) n-6 polyunsaturated (PUFA) safflower diet for 30 days. At post natal day (PND) 50, global gene expression profiling was performed on microdissected mammary epithlelium from one cohort of rats and another cohort of rats were given a single oral gavage of either 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA at 14 mg/kg) or vehicle. Rats were then maintained on the diets and body weights, food consumption and development of mammary lesions were monitored weekly.
Project description:Time-course analysis of adipocyte gene expression profiles response to high fat diet. The hypothesis tested in the present study was that in diet-induced obesity, early activation of TLR-mediated inflammatory signaling cascades by CD antigen genes, leads to increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, resulting in chronic low-grade inflammation. Early changes in collagen genes may trigger the accumulation of ECM components, promoting fibrosis in the later stages of diet-induced obesity. New therapeutic approaches targeting visceral adipose tissue genes altered early by HFD feeding may help ameliorate the deleterious effects of a diet-induced obesity. Total RNA obtained from isolated epididymal and mesenteric adipose tissue of C57BL/6J mice fed normal diet or high fat diet for 2, 4, 8, 20 and 24weeks
Project description:There is increased interest in the potential protective role of dietary Ca in the development of metabolic disorders related to the metabolic syndrome. Ca-induced intestinal precipitation of fatty acids and bile acids as well as systemic metabolic effects of Ca on adipose tissue is proposed to play a causal role. In this experiment, we have studied all these aspects to validate the suggested protective effect of Ca supplementation, independent of other dietary changes, on the development of diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance. In our diet intervention study, C57BL/6J mice were fed high-fat diets differing in Ca concentrations (50 v. 150 mmol/kg). Faecal excretion analyses showed an elevated precipitation of intestinal fatty acids (2·3-fold; P < 0·01) and bile acids (2-fold; P < 0·01) on the high-Ca diet. However, this only led to a slight reduction in fat absorption (from 98 to 95 %; P < 0·01), mainly in the distal small intestine as indicated by gene expression changes. We found no effect on body-weight gain. Lipolysis and lipogenesis-related parameters in adipose tissue also showed no significant changes on the high-Ca diet, indicating no systemic effects of dietary Ca on adiposity. Furthermore, early gene expression changes of intestinal signaling molecules predicted no protective effect of dietary Ca on the development of insulin resistance, which was confirmed by equal values for insulin sensitivity on both diets. Taken together, our data do not support the proposed protective effect of dietary Ca on the development of obesity and/or insulin resistance, despite a significant increase in fecal excretion of fatty acids and bile acids. Keywords: Diet intervention study Nine-week-old mice were fed a high fat purified diet with a low calcium concentration of 50mmol/kg (LCa diet) or a high calcium concentration of 150mmol/kg (HCa diet) for 8 weeks. Body weight was recorded weekly and after 7 weeks of diet intervention an oral glucose tolerance test was performed. For microarray analysis, after 2 weeks of diet intervention, 6 mice per diet group were anaesthetized with a mixture of isofluorane (1.5%), nitrous oxide (70%) and oxygen (30%) and the small intestines were excised. Adhering fat and pancreatic tissue were carefully removed. The small intestines were divided in three equal parts along the proximal to distal axis (SI 1, SI 2 and SI 3) and microarray analysis was performed on pooled mucosal scrapings.
Project description:The aim of this study was to investigate the causative effect of CS induced dysbiosis on obesity and insulin resistance in a high-fat diet induced obese (DIO) mouse model. Male germ-free BALB/c mice were humanized by fecal microbiota transfer using samples from children born by CS or VD and fed HFD for 16 weeks. Adipose tissue was sampled for RNAseq at study termination.
Project description:Diet-induced obesity is the central cause of diabetes, cardiovascular disease as well as metabolic syndrome. Here, we have studied the efficacy of cycles of a 4-5 day fasting mimicking diet (FMD) in inhibiting high-fat, high calorie diet (HFCD) -induced obesity in mature female C57BL/6 mice. We show that a monthly 5-day cycle of FMD inhibit HFCD-mediated obesity by causing a reduction in calorie intake and accumulation of visceral and subcutaneous fat depots without lean body mass loss. FMD cycles also increase cardiac vascularity, function and stress resistance, and reverse the hypercholesterolemia caused by the HFCD. The sustained activation of adipocyte genes associated with mitochondrial metabolism and biogenesis and the sustained ketogenesis in the HFCD-fed mice subjected to monthly cycles of FMD indicate a reprogramming of fat cell metabolism that is likely to be at the center of obesity reversal. All these improvements could explain the protection from early mortality elicited by the high-fat, high calorie diet.