Negligible colon cancer risk from food-borne acrylamide exposure in male F344 rats and nude (nu/nu) mice-bearing human colon tumor xenografts.

Abstract

Acrylamide, a possible human carcinogen, is formed in certain carbohydrate-rich foods processed at high temperature. We evaluated if dietary acrylamide, at doses (0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 mg/kg diet) reflecting upper levels found in human foods, modulated colon tumorigenesis in two rodent models. Male F344 rats were randomized to receive diets without (control) or with acrylamide. 2-weeks later, rats in each group received two weekly subcutaneous injections of either azoxymethane (AOM) or saline, and were killed 20 weeks post-injections; colons were assessed for tumors. Male athymic nude (nu/nu) mice bearing HT-29 human colon adenocarcinoma cells-derived tumor xenografts received diets without (control) or with acrylamide; tumor growth was monitored and mice were killed 4 weeks later. In the F344 rat study, no tumors were found in the colons of the saline-injected rats. However, the colon tumor incidence was 54.2% and 66.7% in the control and the 2 mg/kg acrylamide-treated AOM-injected groups, respectively. While tumor multiplicity was similar across all diet groups, tumor size and burden were higher in the 2 mg/kg acrylamide group compared to the AOM control. These results suggest that acrylamide by itself is not a "complete carcinogen", but acts as a "co-carcinogen" by exacerbating the effects of AOM. The nude mouse study indicated no differences in the growth of human colon tumor xenografts between acrylamide-treated and control mice, suggesting that acrylamide does not aid in the progression of established tumors. Hence, food-borne acrylamide at levels comparable to those found in human foods is neither an independent carcinogen nor a tumor promoter in the colon. However, our results characterize a potential hazard of acrylamide as a colon co-carcinogen in association with known and possibly other environmental tumor initiators/promoters.

• Authors: Jayadev Raju, Jennifer Roberts, Chandni Sondagar, Kamla Kapal, Syed A Aziz, Don Caldwell, Rekha Mehta
• Journal: PloS one (PLoS One) Vol. 8 Issue 9 Pg. e73916 ( 2013) ISSN: 1932-6203 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 24040114 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Acrylamide

Topics

• Acrylamide (administration & dosage, adverse effects)
• Animals
• Body Weight
• Colonic Neoplasms (etiology, pathology)
• Diet
• Disease Models, Animal
• Heterografts
• Humans
• Immunohistochemistry
• Male
• Mice
• Mice, Nude
• Rats
• Tumor Burden