Does caffeine have a double-edged sword role in inflammation and carcinogenesis in the colon?

Abstract

flammation. [9][10][11][12][13] Although the anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects of CAF have been reported by many groups in several organs, the possibility for coffee (but not only CAF) to affect intestinal inflammatory diseases is still controversial, as nicely reviewed by 2 recent review articles. 14,15 Notably, coffee is likely to play a protective role in mucosal inflammation based on a meta-analysis of the association between Crohn' s disease (CD) and beverage intake. 16 However, the biological mechanisms underlying the CAF-mediated effects on colonic epithelial cells (CECs) and colon cancer, especially colitis-associated cancer, remain controversial for almost the past 2 decades [17][18][19][20][21] and have not been fully explained scientifically.As one of the CAF-oriented research groups, we do not intend to discuss the detail of immunological or biological mechanisms of action on low-dose CAF and sugar (mainly sucrose) combinational administration in the incidence of inflammation-associated carcinogenesis, but we would like to suggest new possibilities for the relationship between the 2

Recently Updated Role of Chitinase 3-like 1 on Various Cell Types as a Major Influencer of Chronic Inflammation

“…The caffeinemediated anti-inflammatory effect was exerted by suppressing CHI3L1 and AMCase but not chitinase -1 as determined by quantitative PCR of colonic tissue after induction of DSS-acute colitis [152]. However, a paradoxical effect of caffeine was also identified: lowdose (0.17 mM) caffeine with 10% sucrose (but not fructose) caused apparent carcinogenic change in CECs in a murine model of chronic colitis [153]. Therefore, we need to carefully determine the influence of methylxanthine derivatives as a potential anti-inflammatory therapeutic strategy.…”