The chemopreventive effect of withaferin A on spontaneous and inflammation-associated colon carcinogenesis models. uri icon

abstract

  • Chemopreventive effects and associated mechanisms of withaferin A (WA) against intestinal and colon carcinogenesis remain unknown. We investigated the chemopreventive effect of WA on transgenic adenomatous polyposis coli (APCMin/+) mouse and chemically induced azoxymethane/dextran sodium sulfate (AOM/DSS) models of intestinal and colon carcinogenesis. Oral WA administration (4 and 3 mg/kg) inhibited tumor initiation and progression of intestinal polyps formation in APCMin/+ mice and colon carcinogenesis in the AOM/DSS mouse model. WA-administered mice showed a significant reduction in both number [duodenum, 33% (P > 0.05); jejunum, 32% (P < 0.025); ileum, 43% ( P < 0.001); and colon 59% (P < 0.01] and size of polyps in APCMin/+ mice compared with the respective controls. Similarly, tumor multiplicity was significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in the colon of WA-administered AOM/DSS mice. Pathological analysis showed reduced adenomas and tissue inflammation in WA-administered mouse models. Molecular studies suggested that WA inhibited the expression of inflammatory (interluekin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and cyclooxygenase-2), pro-survival (pAKT, Notch1 and NF-B) markers in APCMin/+ and AOM/DSS models. The results suggest that WA is a potent agent for preventing colon carcinogenesis and further investigation is required to show clinical utility of the agent.

published proceedings

  • Carcinogenesis

author list (cited authors)

  • Chandrasekaran, B., Pal, D., Kolluru, V., Tyagi, A., Baby, B., Dahiya, N. R., ... Damodaran, C.

complete list of authors

  • Chandrasekaran, Balaji||Pal, Deeksha||Kolluru, Venkatesh||Tyagi, Ashish||Baby, Becca||Dahiya, Nisha R||Youssef, Khafateh||Alatassi, Houda||Ankem, Murali K||Sharma, Arun K||Damodaran, Chendil