Skip to main content
NUTRITION 2024 Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Back

Carotenoids and Retinoids (Poster Session)

(P01-016-24) Sex-Specific Assessment of β-Carotene Effects in Early Colorectal Cancer Induced by Azoxymethane (AOM)/ Dextran Sulfate Sodium (DSS) in Mice

Sunday, June 30, 2024
12:45 PM – 1:45 PM CT
Location: Poster Board 384

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Sejin Park, Master's degree

    Graduate Program in System Health Science and Engineering
    Ewha Womans University
    Republic of Korea, Kyonggi-do, Republic of Korea

    • Co-Author(s)

  • HH

    Hyejin Han

    Ewha Womans University, Republic of Korea

  • SH

    Soyeon Han

    Ewha Womans University, Republic of Korea

  • YK

    Yuri Kim, Ph.D

    Associate Professor
    Ewha womans university
    Seoul, Seoul-t'ukpyolsi, Republic of Korea

Disclosure(s):
Sejin Park, Master's degree: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: The objective of this study is to investigate sex-specific effects of β-carotene (BC) on systemic and local inflammation in azoxymethane (AOM)/ dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced early colorectal cancer (CRC) mice.

Methods: Male and female BALB/c mice were randomly assigned to normal control (NC), cancer control (CC), and BC treatment group. BC (15mg/kg) was administered via oral gavage. Systemic inflammation was assessed through disease activity index (DAI) scores, serum inflammatory cytokines, 17β-estradiol, and retinol levels. Local changes were evaluated by colon length, tumor incidence, and expression of inflammatory cytokines, estrogen receptors (ERs), and BC oxygenases in colon and liver.

Results: Females displayed higher DAI scores, whereas DAI scores were decreased by BC supplementation in both sexes. BC treatment was effective in decreasing serum IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α levels only in females. While serum 17β-estradiol levels were higher in females, they were increased by BC supplementation in both sexes. Additionally, serum retinol levels were lower in females than males by supplementation. Tumor counts were decreased by BC supplementation in both sexes compared with the CC group. Colon length was lower in females than males. mRNA expression of Tnf was upregulated in the colon of the CC group in both sexes, whereas Il6 expression was tended to be suppressed by BC only in females. Furthermore, upregulated colonic ERα protein expression by AOM/DSS treatment was significantly suppressed by BC supplementation in both sexes.

Conclusions: BC exhibited sex-specific effects by regulating serum cytokines, 17β-estradiol levels, and ERα expression in AOM/DSS-induced early CRC. This result indicates potential sex-tailored therapeutic effect of BC by regulating inflammation.

Funding Sources: This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT and was also supported by the BK21 FOUR (Fostering Outstanding Universities for Research) funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE, Korea) and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-5199990614253, Education Research Center for 4IR-Based Health Care).