N.C. A&T State University Project Summary
Wheat Bran for Colon Cancer Prevention:
A Targeted Metabolomic Approach
Dr. Shengmin Sang, Center for Excellence in Post-Harvest Technologies
One of the Schoolof Agriculture and Environmental Sciences’s (SAES) strategic plans is to help the state’sresidents produce and consume nutritious foods and adopt healthy eating to prevent chronicdiseases. To achieve this goal and to build research capacity in functional foods and humanhealth, SAES is expanding research programs in nutrition-related health issues, such as coloncancer, by:
1)Hiring a new faculty member who has expertise in bioactive food components and humanhealth, and
2)Developing research proposals in nutrition, nutraceuticals and functional foods.
The goal of this proposal is to build SAES’s research capacity inthe area of bioactive food components for prevention of colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Although most studies have shown a correlation between wheat bran consumption and the reduction of the risk of colon cancer, the mechanism by which dietary wheat bran protects against colon tumor development has not been fully explored. We and others have found that phytochemicals, the nonfibrous components in wheat bran, may responsible for the observed anticancer effects.
However, the nature of the chemical profile of wheat bran has not been fully delineated. Most ofthe previous studies focus on the total levels of specific types of compounds. There is nosystematic study on the structures of individual compounds in wheat bran. In addition, there is noinformation regarding the metabolic profiles of the phytochemicals in wheat bran.
Metabolomics is a rapid, high-throughput characterization of small molecule (MW < 1000Da) metabolites found in organisms. It offers us the opportunity to gain deeper insights into thefundamental biochemical basis of items that we consume.
Dietary factors are known to have profound effects on cancer. Many epidemiologicalstudies, however, have failed to generate consistent results on this topic due to a lack of accuratetools to assess dietary intake and internal dosage. To better understand the effects ofdietary constituents on cancer risk, biomarkers for their exposure and effects are needed.
As a result of successful completion of the proposed project, we expect to identify the activecomponents in wheat bran and use those compounds and their metabolites as the exposuremarkers of wheat bran using a targeted metabolomic approach. Results generated from this studycould help us further study the in vivo efficacy and the underlying molecular mechanism of theidentified bioactive components using the long-term (AOM-induced) carcinogenesis rat model.Our long-term goal is to develop wheat bran and its active components as effective dietaryagents to prevent or treat cancer in future human studies. We also expect to 1) provide assistanceto other faculty to use protocols developed in this project to study the cancer preventive effect ofmany different functional foods and bioactive food components and 2) train graduate student toconduct the new research proposed in this project.
Page 1 of 1