Epidemiological studies support the association between the high intake of fruits and vegetables and the low risk of cancer. The long-term goal of this project is to investigate if fruit pigment, especially, anthocyanins, prevent cancer in humans. Anthocyanins are a class of the general flavonoid group of compounds, which are characterized by the flavylium nucleus. Berries are typical fruits widely consumed in the world with dark red, purple and blue colors, and is rich in anthocyanins. It is our hypothesis that anthocyanin- rich berries may play an important contribution in the cancer prevention. Little information is available on the cancer chemoprevention properties of berries, including standardization, safety, bioavailability and bioactivity. This proposal would support a basis for more extended chemoprevention research of berries. There are more 7000 natural anthocyanins. Cyanin is a typical anthocyanin with red color and occurs in most berries. Black chokeberry is a native American berry of the Aronia melanocarpa species. Compared to other berries, it contains more cyanins, about 96% of the total anthocyanins. In this proposal we will focus on the chemopreventive effect of standardized extract of chokeberry (SECK) and their major cyanin constituents using a novel 3-dimensional reconstituted normal human epithelium culture model, such as normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK) and normal human bronchial epithelium (NHBE).
Three Specific Aims of this proposal are: 1) Safety evaluation of SECK in 3-D NHEK and NHTBE; 2) Bioavailability of SECK in 3-d NHEK and NHBE and 3) Effect of SECK on benzo(a)pyrene-induced apoptosis in 3-D NHEK and NHBE. This pilot study will provide more valuable information for future in vivo preclinical and clinical studies. Our 3-D reconstituted human normal epithelium culture models may also provide a rapid and reliable model for screening chemopreventive botanicals.
