Combining gamma-tocopherol and aspirin synergistically suppresses colitis-associated colon tumorigenesis and modulates the gut microbiota in mice, and inhibits the growth of human colon cancer cells. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Despite being shown to be effective for chemoprevention of colorectal cancer, aspirin has limitations including adverse effects and inability to block colitis-associated colon cancer (CAC). -Tocopherol (T), a vitamin E form, has been reported to mitigate experimental colitis and CAC, prolong the anti-inflammatory activity of aspirin and alleviate aspirin-induced adverse effect. We therefore hypothesize that combining T and aspirin is better than either compound singly for suppressing CAC. This hypothesis was tested in the murine azoxymethane (AOM)/dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced CAC model and with human HCT116 colon cancer cells. Compared to the control, combining aspirin (250ppm) and T (500ppm) but not either compound alone significantly reduced AOM/DSS-induced tumor area and multiplicity of large-size tumors by 60% and 50%, respectively. Meanwhile, T mitigated aspirin-promoted inflammation and stomach lesions in mice. Moreover, the combination appeared to cause favorable changes of gut microbiota compared to the control and synergistically suppressed the growth of HCT116cells. Our study demonstrates that combining aspirin and T improves anticancer effects and counteracts side effects compared to aspirin and may therefore be a novel combinatory chemopreventive agent against CAC.

published proceedings

  • Eur J Pharmacol

altmetric score

  • 1.25

author list (cited authors)

  • Liu, K. Y., Wang, Q., Nakatsu, C. H., Jones-Hall, Y., & Jiang, Q.

citation count

  • 1

complete list of authors

  • Liu, Kilia Y||Wang, Qianyue||Nakatsu, Cindy H||Jones-Hall, Yava||Jiang, Qing

publication date

  • May 2023