Chung S Yang

• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

In this study, we evaluated the effects of vitamin E δ-tocotrienol (DT3) and aspirin on Wnt signaling in human colon cancer stem cells (CCSCs) and in the prevention of adenoma formation in APCmin/+ mice. We found that knockdown of the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene led to subsequent activation of Wnt signaling in colon epithelial cells (NCM4...

Our previous study found that large-leaf yellow tea (LYT) had interesting hypoglycemic activity in high-fat diet-induced obese mice and highly safety in healthy mice. To study the anti-diabetic potential of LYT, the present study further investigated the preventive effects and mechanisms of action of LYT administration on diabetes and diabetic neph...

Green tea polyphenol (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has been well studied for its biological activities in the prevention of chronic diseases. However, the biological activities of EGCG oxidation-derived polymers remain unclear. Previously, we found that these polymers accumulated in intraperitoneal tissues after intraperitoneal injection an...

The beneficial health effects of green tea have been attributed to tea catechins. However, the molecular mechanisms of action, especially those in vivo, remain unclear. This article reviews the redox and other activities of tea catechins, using (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), as an example. EGCG is a well-known antioxidant. However, EGCG can...

Resveratrol (RES) is considered to be an activator of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) with many reported health benefits. Polydatin (POD) is a natural precursor and glycosylated form of RES. The glycoside structure of POD alters the bioactivity. Overnutrition-stimulated reactive oxygen species (ROS) promote the AMPK suppression and metabolic dy...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can disrupt the gut microbiota balance, and patients usually have intestinal disorders. The intestine is the largest immune organ of the human body, and gut microbes can affect the immune function of the lungs through the gut-lung axis. Many lines of evidence support the role of beneficial bacteria in enhancing h...

Background With the change of dietary habits and lifestyles, people tend to have elevated blood uric acid levels at a younger age, and this can cause serious health problems, such as hyperuricemia, gout, cardiovascular diseases and nephropathy. However, current clinical uric acid-lowering drugs mostly have side effects. Natural compounds from food...

Vitamin E compounds, consisting of α, β, γ, and δ forms of tocopherols and tocotrienols, display different cancer preventive activities in experimental models. Tocotrienols may have higher potential for clinical use due to their lower effective doses in laboratory studies. However, most studies on tocotrienols have been carried out using cancer cel...

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its four clinical entities, central obesity, insulin resistance, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, are implicated in increasing the risk and mortality of cancer in several organs. However, it is unclear how they are associated with increased risk of prostate cancer. To elucidate the mechanistic link between MetS and pros...

Neurotransmitter catecholamines (dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine) are liable to undergo oxidation, which copper is deeply involved in. Catecholamine oxidation-derived neurotoxicity is recognized as a pivotal pathological mechanism in neurodegenerative diseases. Glutamate, as an excitatory neurotransmitter, is enriched in the brain at extr...

Green tea extracts and tea catechins have been shown to prevent or alleviate diabetes. The present study tests the hypothesis that green tea leaves in powder form (GTP), which also contain fiber and other water non-extractable materials, are more effective than the corresponding green tea extracts (GTE) in impeding the development of diabetes in db...

Background The world is in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this comprehensive review, we discuss the potential protective effects of (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a major constituent of green tea, against COVID-19. Scope and approach Information from literature of clinical symptoms and molecular pathology of COVID-19 as well as rel...

Phytosterols have been shown to lower cholesterol levels and to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and other biological activities. However, the high melting point and poor solubility limit their bioavailability and practical application. It is advantageous to modify phytosterols chemically and physically. This article reviews and discusses the ch...

Circadian rhythm synchronizes the host's physiological functions with the switching of environmental pattern to optimize the health status. Intestinal microbiota and circadian rhythms, as new cues affecting host health, act vital roles in the metabolism of the body. Under the control of the host circadian rhythms, microbiota rhythms are influenced...

The activation and growth of tumour-initiating cells with stem-like properties in distant organs characterize colorectal cancer (CRC) growth and metastasis. Thus, inhibition of colon cancer stem cell (CCSC) growth holds promise for CRC growth and metastasis prevention. We and others have shown that farnesyl dimethyl chromanol (FDMC) inhibits cancer...

Mol. Nutr. Food Res. 2021, 65, 2000864 DOI: 10.1002/mnfr.202000864 The yellow tea extract (YTE) enhances adaptive thermogenesis and protects mice from high fat diet induced obesity by modulating adipocyte metabolic conversion. In epididymal adipose tissue, YTE prevents white adipocytes hypertrophy and improves mitochondrial biogenesis. In brown adi...

The vitamin E forms γ- and δ-tocopherols (T) inhibit carcinogenesis in animal models; nevertheless, their cancer preventive activities in humans are uncertain. As an initial step to address this issue, we conducted a pilot phase 0 trial to determine the levels of tocopherols and their metabolites in prostate cancer patients undergoing radical prost...

Scope Large‐Leaf yellow tea (YT) exhibited interesting beneficial metabolic effects in previous studies. Here, we elucidated the actions of YT on thermogenesis, energy metabolism and adipocyte metabolic conversion. Methods and Results Five‐week‐old male C57BL/6 mice were fed low‐fat diet, high‐fat diet (HFD) and HFD supplemented with 0.5% or 2.5%...

Colitis increases the risk of colorectal cancer; however, the mechanism of the association between colitis and cancer remains largely unknown. To identify colitis-associated cancer promoting factors, we investigated gene expression changes caused by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice. By analyzing gene expression profiles, we foun...

Scope: Tea, made from the plant Camellia sinensis, is known to have anti‐diabetes effects and different mechanisms of action are proposed. Kidney is a vital organ in managing water reabsorption and glucose metabolism, and is greatly influenced by diabetes. The present study investigates the effects of tea administration on water reabsorption and gl...

Background Murine bone marrow-derived myofibroblasts (BMFs) have previously been shown to promote gastric cancer growth. However, whether BMFs promote gastric cancer cell metastasis remains largely unknown. Methods Wound healing assay, Transwell invasion and migration assay and 3D organotypic co-culture systems were conducted to study the effects...

α-Tocopherol (α-T) is the major form of vitamin E (VE) in animals and has the highest activity in carrying out the essential antioxidant functions of VE. Because of the involvement of oxidative stress in carcinogenesis, the cancer prevention activity of α-T has been studied extensively. Lower VE intake or nutritional status has been shown to be ass...

Under the control of the host circadian rhythms, intestinal microbiota undergoes dietary-dependent diurnal fluctuations in composition and function. In addition, microbiome plays a critical role in maintaining the host circadian rhythms and metabolic homeostasis. The interactions between host circadian rhythms and intestinal microbiota suggest that...

Acute liver failure is divided into hyperacute, acute and subacute liver failure. Ascites is a common complication of subacute liver failure. Although animal models of acute liver failure have been established, the study of the pathogenesis of subacute liver failure with ascites complication is hampered by the lack of experimental animal model. The...

Selenium, at high-dose levels approaching its toxicity, protects tissues from dose-limiting toxicities of many cancer chemotherapeutics without compromising their therapeutic effects on tumors, there by allowing the delivery of higher chemotherapeutic doses to achieve increased cure rate. In this regard, selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs), which show t...

Tea, made from the leaves of the plant Camellia sinensis, is a popular beverage and the possible beneficial health effects of tea polyphenols (TPP) have been studied extensively. This article discusses the biological fates of TPP and their interactions with the microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract. TPP are absorbed mainly in the small intestine...

Melatonin is a well-documented antioxidant. Physicochemical analysis using the density functional theory suggests that melatonin is a copper chelating agent; however, experimental evidence is still in demand. The present study investigated the influence of melatonin on reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated from polyphenol autoxidation in the pres...

We have demonstrated previously that melatonin attenuates hepatotoxicity triggered by high doses of (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) in mice. The current work investigated the influence of melatonin on the oncostatic activity of EGCG in two cancer cell lines, wherein melatonin induced an opposite response of p21. In human tongue cancer TCA8113...

Peritoneal carcinomatosis has an extremely poor overall prognosis and remains one of the greatest oncologic challenges. Prior studies in mice show that sodium selenite administered intraperitoneally is highly effective in inhibiting cancer cells implanted in the peritoneal cavity. However, the pharmacological mechanism remains unclear. The present...

The effects of polarized membrane trafficking in mature epithelial tissue on cell growth and cancer progression have not been fully explored in vivo. A majority of colorectal cancers have reduced and mislocalized Rab11, a small GTPase dedicated to trafficking of recycling endosomes. Patients with low Rab11 protein expression have poor survival rate...

In this study, we investigated the effects of a newly synthesized α-galacto-oligosaccharide mixture (α-GOSg), 0.5% in drinking water, on high-fat/western-style diet (HFWD)-induced metabolic abnormality in mice in a study of 13 weeks. Raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFOs) were included as a comparison. Mice treated with α-GOSg had significantly l...

Cardiovascular diseases have overtaken cancers as the number one cause of death. Hypertension is the most dangerous factor linked to deaths caused by cardiovascular diseases. Many researchers have reported that tea has anti-hypertensive effects in animals and humans. The aim of this review is to update the information on the anti-hypertensive effec...

Tocopherols (T) and tocotrienols (T3), all existing in α, β, γ, and δ‐forms, are the eight forms of vitamin E (VE). In this study, we investigated the effects of gut microbiota on the degradation and tissue levels of different VE forms by treating mice with antibiotics in drinking water for 12 days. The mice also received an intragastric (i.g.) dos...

Scope : We investigated and compared the effects of green tea polyphenols – Polyphenon E (PPE) and black tea polyphenols – theaflavins (TFs) on gut microbiota and development of diabetes in db/db mice. Methods and results : Supplementation of PPE (0.1%) in the diet to female db/db mice for 7 weeks decreased fasting blood glucose levels and mesente...

This article presents a brief overview of studies on the prevention of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases by tea. The major focus is on green tea catechins concerning the effective doses used, the mechanisms of action, and possible toxic effects. In cancer prevention by tea, the laboratory results are strong, but the human data are inconclusive, a...

Objective: To investigate and compare the effects of two common dietary phytosterols, stigmasterol and β-sitosterol, in altering lipid metabolism and attenuating nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods: Stigmasterol and β-sitosterol were administered to mice at 0.4% in a high-fat western-style diet (HFWD) for 17 weeks. Results: Stigm...

We have previously demonstrated that selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) administered via oral route possess similar capacities of increasing selenoenzyme activities as the extensively examined sodium selenite, selenomethionine and methylselenocysteine, and yet display the lowest toxicity among these selenium compounds in mouse models. However, the low...

Background: Findings from in vitro and animal studies suggest a protective role for green tea consumption against gastric cancer risk; however, data from observational studies are inconsistent and mostly based on self-reported dietary intake. To date, very few studies have investigated the association between tea catechins and gastric cancer risk u...

Estrogen plays an important role in breast cancer development. While the mechanism of the estrogen effects is not fully elucidated, one possible route is by increasing the stem cell-like properties in the tumors. Tocopherols are known to reduce breast cancer development and progression. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of...

α-Galacto-oligosaccharides have been reported to have beneficial health effects. The purpose of this study was to investigate the preventive effects of a newly synthesized α-galacto-oligosaccharide mixture (α-GOSg), as well as raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFOs), on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice. When administered in dri...

To study the effects of stigmasterol and β-sitosterol on high-fat Western diet (HFWD)-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), lipidomic analyses were conducted in liver samples collected after 33 weeks of the treatment. Principal component analysis showed these phytosterols were effective in protecting against HFWD-induced NAFLD. Orthogon...

“Antioxidants” is a term commonly used in food science to describe compounds that block lipid peroxidation and other oxidative reactions, keeping the freshness and prolonging shelf life of food products. Dietary antioxidants and antioxidant supplements are lauded to quench reactive oxygen species and prevent different chronic diseases, but strong e...

The previous studies have shown that tea polyphenols are metabolized by gut microbiota. This study investigated the effect of gut microbiota on the bioavailability, tissue levels, and degradation of tea polyphenols. Mice were treated with antibiotics (ampicillin/sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim) in drinking water and the control mice received water fo...

To investigate the role of TGF-β and IL-6 in myofibroblasts (MFs) - lung cancer cell interactions, lung cancer cells (Lewis and CTM-167 cell lines) were stimulated by IL-6, MF-conditioned medium (MF-CM) or MFs, with or without TGF-β signaling inhibitor - SB431542 and/or JAK2/STAT3 inhibitor - JSI-124. MFs were stimulated by TGF-β, cancer cell-CM or...

Cancer is a major disease worldwide and different approaches are needed to reduce its risk. Previous laboratory studies suggested that cancer can be prevented by many naturally occurring and synthetic chemicals. In human cancer prevention studies, however, most of the successful examples are the repurposing of existing drugs, such as tamoxifen and...

Scope: The tea polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has been shown to ameliorate metabolic abnormalities and fatty liver. The present study investigated the mechanisms of actions of EGCG on bile acid homeostasis and lipid metabolism. Methods: Male C57BL/6J mice were fed a low-fat diet, a high-fat western-style diet or a high-fat west...

The PTEN/PI3K/AKT axis plays a critical role in regulating cell growth, differentiation and survival. Activation of this signaling pathway is frequently found in human cancers. Our previous studies demonstrated that δ-tocopherol (δ-T) attenuates the activation of AKT by growth factor in prostate cancer cell lines, leading to inhibition of prolifera...

Despite experimental evidence elucidating the anti-tumor activities of tocopherols, clinical trials with α-tocopherol (α-T) have failed to demonstrate its beneficial effects in cancer prevention. This study compared the chemopreventive efficacy of individual tocopherols (α-, δ-, γ-T) and a γ-T rich tocopherol mixture (γ-TmT) in the August Copenhage...

Phytosterols, the plant analogues of cholesterol, widely occur in the human diet. In this study, we investigated and compared the effects of stigmasterol and β-sitosterol (both with purities ≥ 95%) on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in C57BL/6J male mice fed a high fat western-style diet. Mice treated with DSS developed severe mucosal...

Dithiocarbamates (DTC) are widely used in agricultural, industrial and therapeutic domains. There are ample opportunities for human exposure to DTC. Green tea extracts, with epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) being the most abundant constituent, have been used as dietary supplements for body weight reduction. Our hypothesis is that DTC can act as a...

Liver injury effects of green tea-based products have been reported in sporadic case reports. However, no study has examined systematically such adverse effects in an unbiased manner. We examined the potential effects of a high, sustained oral dose of green tea extract (GTE) on liver injury measures in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind...

PTEN/PI3K/AKT axis plays a critical role in regulating cell growth, metabolism, migration, differentiation, and survival. Activation of this signal pathway is frequently found in human cancers. Data from our previous studies demonstrated that δ-tocopherol (δ-T) attenuates the activation of AKT by growth factor in prostate cancer cell lines, leading...

In order to establish a more physiologically relevant colorectal cancer model, we recently developed a colon-carcinogenesis model induced by the meat-derived dietary carcinogen, 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), and promoted by dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis in the cytochrome P450 1A-humanized (hCYP1A) mice. PhIP...

Estrogens have been implicated as complete carcinogens for breast and other tissues through mechanisms involving increased cell proliferation, oxidative stress and DNA damage. Because of their potent antioxidant activity and other effects, tocopherols have been shown to exert anti-tumor activities in various cancers. However, limited information is...

Tocotrienols, members of the vitamin E family, have three unsaturated bonds in their side chains. Recently, it has been suggested the biological effects of tocotrienols may differ from that of tocopherols. Several in vitro studies have shown that tocotrienols have stronger anti-cancer effects than tocopherols. VCaP cell line used in this study is f...

Supplementary material

Selenium participates in the antioxidant defense mainly through a class of selenoproteins, including thioredoxin reductase. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the most abundant and biologically active catechin in green tea. Depending upon the dose and biological systems, EGCG may function either as an antioxidant or as an inducer of antioxidant d...

In the past decades, experimental rodent models developed to study the pathogenesis of human colorectal cancer (CRC) generally employed synthetic chemical carcinogens or genetic manipulation. Our lab, in order to establish a more physiologically relevant CRC model, recently developed a colon carcinogenesis model induced by the meat-derived dietary...

Pancreatic cancer (PaCA) is one of the most lethal human cancers and is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. However, there are currently no established recommendations for prevention of PaCA using pharmacological agents. Metformin has recently gained attention as an anti-cancer drug and/or a chemoprevention agent...

Estrogens have been implicated to be complete carcinogens through mechanisms involving increased proliferation, oxidative stress and DNA damage. Although the importance of estrogen in breast cancer is well established, the effects of estrogen on breast cancer stem cells are not fully understood. Due to the role of breast cancer stem cells in tumor...

Tocopherols (T), members of the vitamin E family, occur in four forms designated as α, β, δ and γ. Epidemiological studies suggest that tocopherols could reduce the risk of cancer. α-T is known as the classical vitamin E, being the predominant form of tocopherol found in human blood and tissues. However, clinical studies with α-T to substantiate th...

Tocopherols, the major forms of vitamin E, are a family of fat-soluble compounds that exist in alpha (α-T), beta (β-T), gamma (γ-T), and delta (δ-T) variants. A cancer preventive effect of vitamin E is suggested by epidemiological studies. However, past animal studies and human intervention trials with α-T, the most active vitamin E form, have yiel...

Obesity is associated with an increased risk of cancer. To study the promotion of dietary carcinogen-induced gastrointestinal cancer by obesity, we employed 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) to induce intestinal tumorigenesis in CYP1A-humanized (hCYP1A) mice, in which mouse Cyp1a1/1a2 was replaced with human CYP1A1/1A2. Obesity...

Background: Esophageal cancer (EC) occurs commonly, especially in Asia, and is the sixth leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Recently, great progress has been made in research on the etiology and prevention of EC. Summary: The major risk factors for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) are tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking, which a...

Epidemiological studies have observed the association between dietary patterns and the risk of certain types of cancer. Extensive studies have been conducted on the cancer preventive activities of constituents from food and beverages. While laboratory research has shown impressive and promising results, such promising cancer preventive activities h...

Tea, a popular beverage made from leaves of the plant Camellia sinensis, has been shown to reduce body weight, alleviate metabolic syndrome, and prevent diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in animal models and humans. Such beneficial effects have generally been observed in most human studies when the level of tea consumption was 3 to 4 cups (600-9...

Tocopherols, the major forms of vitamin E, exist as alpha-tocopherol (α-T), β-T, γ-T and δ-T. The cancer preventive activity of vitamin E is suggested by epidemiological studies, but recent large-scale cancer prevention trials with high dose of α-T yielded disappointing results. Our hypothesis that other forms of tocopherols have higher cancer prev...

The cancer preventive activity of vitamin E is suggested by epidemiological studies and supported by animal studies with vitamin E forms, γ-tocopherol and δ-tocopherol (δ-T). Several recent large-scale cancer prevention trials with high dose of α-tocopherol, however, yielded disappointing results. Whether vitamin E prevents or promotes cancer is a...

(-)-Epigallocatehin-3-gallate (EGCG), a major constituent of green tea, can ameliorate metabolic syndrome at least in part through reducing gluconeogenesis and lipogenesis. Green tea extracts, of which EGCG is a key constituent, have been used for weight loss in humans. A potential adverse effect of high-dose EGCG or green tea extracts is hepatotox...

Metformin and aspirin have been studied extensively as cancer preventative and therapeutic agents. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms for the inhibitory effects of pancreatic cancer development remain undefined. To gain further insight into their biological function in pancreatic cancer, we conducted a transcriptomic analysis using RNA se...

The tea catechin (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) inhibits cancer cell proliferation and induces apoptosis. Effects of EGCG on growth of immortalized intestinal and colon cancer cells and involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were studied. Low concentrations of EGCG (<20 μM) stimulated cell growth (up to 60%) and high concentrations wer...

Tocopherols (T), members of the vitamin E family, occur in four forms designated as α, β, δ and γ. Tocopherols are suggested to reduce the risk of cancer. α-T is the predominant form of tocopherols found in human tissues. However, clinical studies with α-T have provided inconclusive results. γ-T is our major dietary source of tocopherols. Recent st...

Tocopherols (T), which exist as α-, β-, γ-, and δ-T are important dietary antioxidants. Our previous studies have demonstrated that a mixture of tocopherols (γ-TmT), δ-T, and γ-T effectively inhibited colon carcinogenesis in AOM/DSS-treated mice or AOM-treated rats. However, the effects of different forms of tocopherols on carcinogenesis in animal...

The commonly used drugs, metformin and aspirin have been studied extensively as cancer preventative and therapeutic agents. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms for the inhibitory effects of pancreatic cancer development remain largely unknown. To gain further insight into their biological function in pancreatic cancer, we conducted a trans...

The Minnesota Green Tea Trial (MGTT) was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded trial investigating the effect of daily green tea extract consumption for 12 months on biomarkers of breast cancer risk. Participants were healthy postmenopausal women at high risk of breast cancer due to dense breast tissue with differing catechol-O-methyltra...

This study evaluated the anti-cancer activity and mechanism of action of a γ-tocopherol rich tocopherol mixture, γ-TmT, in two different animal models of estrogen-induced breast cancer. The chemopreventive effect of γ-TmT at early (6 weeks), intermediate (18 weeks) and late (31 weeks) stages of mammary tumorigenesis was determined using the ACI rat...

While cancer incidence and mortality rates in the United States and some European countries have started to decrease, those in developing countries are increasing. China, the most populous developing country, is facing a serious challenge from cancer. Cancer incidence has been increasing for decades, and cancer is the leading cause of death in Chin...

Metformin and aspirin have been studied extensively as cancer preventive or therapeutic agents. However, the effects of their combination on pancreatic cancer cells have not been investigated. Herein, we evaluated the effects of metformin and aspirin, alone or in combination, on cell viability, migration, and apoptosis as well as the molecular chan...

Cisplatin is one of the first-line platinum-based chemotherapeutic agents for treatment of many types of cancer, including ovary cancer. CTR1 (copper transporter 1), a transmembrane solute carrier transporter, has previously been shown to increase the cellular uptake and sensitivity of cisplatin. It is hypothesized that increased CTR1 expression wo...

Dietary catechins are phytochemicals with both antioxidative and prooxidative stress properties. Green tea is a major source of catechins and may be associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk, but the catechin-HCC relationship has not been evaluated using a biomarker-based approach. A nested case-control study of HCC (211 cases and 1,067 m...

(−)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a constituent in green tea, has been suggested to have numerous health-promoting effects. On the other hand, high-dose EGCG is able to evoke hepatotoxicity. In the present study, we elucidated the responses of hepatic major antioxidant enzymes and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) rescue pathw...

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has been demonstrated to inhibit cancer in experimental studies through its antioxidant activity and modulations on cellular functions by binding specific proteins. We demonstrated previously that EGCG upregulates the expression of microRNA (i.e. miR-210) by binding HIF-1α, resulting in reduced cell proliferation a...

DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), a key enzyme mediating DNA methylation, is known to be elevated in various cancers, including the mouse lung tumors induced by the tobacco-specific carcinogen 4-(Methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK). However, it is not known whether DNMT1 expression is induced right after NNK treatment and how DNMT1 exp...

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are accumulated in the spleen and tumor and contribute to tumor growth, angiogenesis and progression. In this study, we examined the effects of curcumin, a compound from turmeric, on MDSCs and gastric cancer growth in vivo. BABL/C nude mice injected subcutaneously with gastric cancer MKN-45 cells were fed wi...

(−)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the major polyphenol in green tea, has been reported to inhibit the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, which is aberrantly up-regulated in colorectal cancers, but its precise mechanism of action remains unclear. Here, we used a sensitive cell-based system to demonstrate that EGCG suppresses β-catenin response transcriptio...

Cancer is a major disease worldwide and different approaches are needed for its prevention. Previous laboratory and clinical studies suggest that cancer can be prevented by chemicals, including those from the diet. Furthermore, epidemiological studies have suggested that deficiencies in certain nutrients can increase the risk of some cancers. In th...

In the present study, the effects of δ-tocopherol (δ-T) on growth and apoptosis of human prostate cancer cells were determined and compared with that of α-tocopherol (α-T), a commonly used form of vitamin E. Treatment of human prostate cancer cells with δ-T resulted in strong growth inhibition and apoptosis stimulation while the effects of α-T were...

Background: Catechins from tea and non-tea sources are potential anti-carcinogenic compounds with potent antioxidant properties. Data supporting an effect of specific catechins on the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in humans are sparse. We examined the association between urinary biomarkers of catechins and their metabolites and risk of HCC...

2-Amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), the most abundant heterocyclic amine generated from high temperature cooking of meat and fish, is metabolically activated by human cytochrome P450 (CYP)1A2 to a proximate carcinogen. Using CYP1A-humanized (hCYP1A) mice, previous study in our lab demonstrated that a single i.g. administration o...

Mutations in the APC or β-catenin genes are well established initiators of colorectal cancer (CRC), yet modifiers that facilitate the survival and progression of nascent tumor cells are not well defined. Using genetic and pharmacological approaches in mouse CRC and human CRC xenograft models, we show that incipient intestinal tumor cells activate C...

Replacing mouse Cyp1a with human CYP1A enables the humanized CYP1A mice to mimic human metabolism of the dietary carcinogen, 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), by N2-hydroxylation to a proximate carcinogen. Our previous study demonstrated that PhIP, combined with the dextrin sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis, induces colon c...

Effective treatment as well as prognostic biomarker for malignant esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is urgently needed. The present study was aimed at identifying oncogenic genes involving dysregulated intracellular Ca2+ signaling, which is known to function importantly in cellular proliferation and migration. Tumors from patients with ESCC...