Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer and sixth leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Chronic reflux-associated esophagitis, termed gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), is a primary risk factor for development of esophageal adenocarcinoma. Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) represents food allergen-mediated esophagitis characterized by esophageal eosinophilia. In contrast to patients with reflux esophagitis, epidemiological data indicates that EoE patients fail to develop esophageal cancer despite the presence of chronic esophageal inflammation. A negative correlation between allergic inflammation and cancer risk has been identified in a variety of organs via population-based studies; however, functional investigations are necessary to define the relationship between allergy and cancer as well as to determine the feasibility of approaches for leveraging allergic inflammation to improve clinical outcomes in cancer patients. To examine the relationship between EoE and cancer, we paired murine models of the two conditions. Our robust preliminary data indicate that exposure to EoE inflammation limits esophageal carcinogenesis in vivo. We hypothesize that EoE inflammation limits esophageal carcinogenesis by activating anti-tumor responses in the immune and epithelial cell compartments. We will test this hypothesis by pursuing the following Specific Aims:
Aim 1 : Identify the immune-mediated mechanisms responsible for tumor cell apoptosis induced by EoE inflammation.
Aim 2 : Delineate the impact of EoE inflammation upon esophageal epithelial cells in the context of carcinogenesis. These studies provide the first functional investigation of the relationship between EoE and esophageal cancer with the potential to unveil novel mechanisms for targeting the allergic immune response and/or allergy-mediated esophageal epithelial fate decisions to improve clinical care for cancer patients. These developmental R21 studies will identify the direct cellular/molecular mechanisms through which the EoE influences the epithelial and immune cell compartments to limit esophageal carcinogenesis. A future R01 proposal will aggressively pursue identified mechanisms in preclinical and clinical models to meet our long- term goal of defining novel strategies for improving esophageal cancer prevention, diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy. As a negative association between allergic inflammation and cancer has been identified in various organs, findings from this study may have broad implications for cancer prevention and therapy.
Despite a well-established negative correlation between allergy and cancer risk based upon epidemiological studies, rigorous scientific testing of the functional relationship between allergic inflammation and carcinogenesis as proposed in this application represent a significant knowledge gap. Leveraging of allergic inflammation to improve cancer patient outcomes has great potential for substantive clinical and translational impact.
