Nutrigenomics: a case for the common soil between cardiovascular disease and cancer

Abstract

The border between health and disease is often set by a complex equilibrium between two elements, genetics on one hand, lifestyle on the other, To know it better, means to give new weapons, often crucial, in the hands of the doctors and their patients. It also means to adjust therapies, to find out which drug is good for a patient and which prevention strategy will work better for him/her. Nutrigenomics is an approach to individualize or personalize food and nutrition, and ultimately health, by tailoring the food to the individual genotype. In this review, we present the interaction between certain genetic polymorphisms and diet and increased cardiovascular or cancer risk. It is, indeed, now clear that a large number of bioactive food components may provide risk or protection at several stages of both atherosclerosis and cancer formation processes. We are giving here few examples of gene-food interactions relevant for both the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, since a common soil could exist in the genesis of cardiovascular disease and of some types of cancer (mainly gastrointestinal tract and hormonedependent).

Nutrigenomics and its Impact on Life Style Associated Metabolic Diseases

“…Apolipoprotein (APOA1) is a 28.1 kDa protein, an important component of high density lipoprotein (HDL) responsible for excretion from body [ 60 ]. This gene is used as a biomarker for prediction of CVDs like myocardial infarction [ 61 ].…”

Biobanks for Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Prevention

“…One of the most interesting possibilities offered by biobanks linked to prospective cohort studies is the possibility to evaluate the 'common soil' hypothesis for cardiovascular disease and cancer. It has long been thought that there might be a basic common ground, the so-called 'common soil', in the pathogenesis of ischemic cardiovascular disease, such as acute coronary syndrome and ischemic stroke, and certain types of cancer, such as those of the GI tract and hormonedependent tumors (e.g., breast, uterus, ovary and prostate cancers) [51][52][53]. Common intermediate mechanisms of these different clinical conditions would be insulin resistance, inflammation or hemostasis activation pathways, which could be considered as a general bridge between cellular processes related to atherosclerosis and to malignant cells proliferation [54,55].…”

Nutrigenética y nutrigenómica

“…Tal como se explica 10 , los nutrientes pueden hacerlo directamente actuando como ligandos de los factores de transcripción o bien indirectamente al ser metabolizados por vías primarias o secundarias para dar lugar finalmente a dicha señalización. Hay dos importantes grupos de enfermedades, las cardiovasculares y el cáncer, que están motivando muchos estudios de nutrigenética/nutrigenómica y que comentamos con un cierto detalle; sobre el tema hay un trabajo reciente que, de forma sencilla, orienta sobre el camino a seguir en ambos temas 11 .…”