Specific nutritional infections early in life as risk factors for human colon and breast cancers several decades later

Red meat and dairy products are currently been considered as risk factors for colon, breast, lung and a few additional cancers (recent reviews Ref. 1,2). Our group postulated a specific relationship of these cancers to infections by meat and milk consumption obtained from Aurochs-derived Eurasian dairy cattle the global epidemiological patterns of colon and breast cancer incidence points to a close relation to the consumption of products originating from these specific breeds of cattle. The suggested species-specific risk triggered the hypothesis that infections derived from these types of cattle may represent the donors of, at that time, still undefined infections resulting from the nutritional uptake of infected meat and milk products. This stimulated the initiation of an analysis of 120 sera obtained from individual dairy cows, from commercially available dairy products and several human sera from multiple sclerosis patients, chronic human diseases and healthy blood donors. Initially the isolation of 20 different genomes of single-stranded circular DNA was published. After their classification into four groups, we designated them as bovine meat and milk factors (BMMF). The first two groups (BMMF1 and BMMF2) have been more intensively analyzed – specific types of group 1, presently 13 in number, and 95 distinguishable types in group 2 (de Villiers et al., unpublished results). Since most of them show similarity in nucleotide sequences to specific bacterial plasmids, mainly of Acinetobacter baumannii, we ruled out the possibility of a laboratory contamination with bacterial DNA by transfecting several of the isolated molecules into human cells. The transfected DNA was transcriptionally active and replicated autonomously in specific types of human cell lines. Recently, evidence emerged linking specific types of BMMF1 and 2 to colon cancer development, acting as specific triggers for random mutations in target cells for malignant conversion (Bund et al., unpublished results). This triggering results from chronic inflammatory foci in the lamina propria close to the Lieberkühn crypts of the colon. These foci produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) which induce mutations within the rapidly replicating adjacent Ki67 positive crypt cells, but seem to leave the nonreplicating cells within the foci (Ki67 negative) unaffected (Bund et al. unpublished results). The present contribution attempts to link existing data on BMMF infections with reported protective effects related to prolonged breast-feeding periods. Many reports claim such effects for newborns, as well as for the nursing mothers. In addition, prolonged intake of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) protects against some of the same cancers. Here we present the view that blocking of receptors by sugars, selectively found in human milk, protect against specific infectious agents and cancers. In the chronic persistent inflammatory lesions caused by BMMFs, NSAIDs should act defensively by interfering with the mode of action of such inflammations.