Impact of the dietary polyacetylenic falcarinol and falcarindiol on inflammation and colorectal cancer: A mechanistic study in a primed rat model

Colorectal cancer (CRC) development is a multistep process,
from normal epithelial cells via inflammation to aberrant crypt foci (ACF)
and progressive adenoma stages, to carcinomas and then metastatic disease [1, 2]. In order to reduce the incidence and consequences of CRC, effective prevention and treatment strategies need to be identified. Due to the
long precancerous stage of identifiable disease, dietary intervention may
exert favorable effect on polyp formation and/or inhibition of adenomas
transformation to CRC. Recent findings indicate that long-term consumption of a diet rich in vegetables may prevent the development of CRC [3].
For the prevention of CRC by dietary measures, vegetables such as carrots
are highly interesting due to their content of the bioactive polyacetylenic falcarinol (FaOH) and falcarindiol (FaDOH) [4]. FaOH and FaDOH have
shown many interesting bioactivities including anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activity [4-6]as well as antineoplastic effect in animal models [7, 8].
In this study, we demonstrate that FaOH and FaDOH prevent the development of early neoplastic lesions in the colorectal intestine in a dose-response relationship corresponding to the logarithmic of the concentration
of the contents of FaOH and FaDOH in the diet. Furthermore, the results
presented also demonstrate that FaOH and FaDOH have an effect on inflammatory markers and they seem to act as selective COX-2 inhibitors,
which appears to be their main mechanism of action in relation to colon
cancer prophylactics.