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Excess dietary iron modulates intestinal tumorigenesis
Author(s) -
Glosser Logan,
Swain James
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.1167.9
Subject(s) - weanling , dietary iron , anemia , jejunum , iron deficiency , iron deficiency anemia , carcinogenesis , hemoglobin , medicine , intestinal cancer , colorectal cancer , gastroenterology , cancer , pathology , zoology , biology
Research on dietary iron in humans has primarily focused on prevention of anemia and common diseases associated with iron deficiency. However, due to the prevalence of iron‐fortified and high iron content foods, especially within the United States, research increasingly is concerned with possible deleterious health effects of excess iron intake. One such effect may be altered cancer risk and/or progression. To determine the effect that excess dietary iron may have on tumor growth, we used weanling Apc min+/− mice – a model of human familial adenomatous polyposis coli ‐ to study the effect of feeding mice for 10‐weeks one of three diets, modified based on iron content: as 1) normal (45 mg/kg), 2) moderately high (225 mg/kg), and 3) high iron (450mg/kg). Intestinal tissue sections from the jejunum, duodenum, and the ilium were collected. Morphological analysis included measurements of total tumor number and tumor surface area (i.e. tumor burden). Histological evaluation for Ki‐67‐ a proliferative marker protein – was conducted to visualize pertinent cells within full‐height, well‐oriented, villi were analyzed. Data show that when mice consumed the high iron diet (Group 3) total tumor number and surface area ‐ combined from all three intestinal sections ‐ increased approximately 2‐fold (p<0.05) in comparison to the moderate and low iron diets (Groups 1 and 2). Immunohistochemical analyses using Ki‐67 illustrated that the percentage of stained cells increased approximately five‐fold when comparing the high iron diet (group 3) vs. the normal (or adequate) iron diet (group 1). Overall, findings suggest that excess dietary iron may adversely affect health by promoting intestinal tumorigenesis. Support or Funding Information Supported in part via CWRU CTSA Grant Number UL1 RR024989 NCRR/NIH (JS) and SAGES Capstone Resource Grant (CWRU; LG)