The role of nutrition related genes and nutrigenetics in understanding the pathogenesis of cancer

Abstract

Nutrition has a predominant and recognizable role in health management. Nutrigenetics is the science that identifies and characterizes gene variants associated with differential response to nutrients and relating this variation to variable disease states especially cancer. This arises from the epidemiological fact that cancer accounts for a high proportion of total morbidity and mortality in adults throughout the world. There is much evidence to support that genetic factors play a key role in the development of cancer; these genetic factors such as DNA instability and gene alterations are affected by nutrition. Nutrition may also lead to aberrant DNA methylation, which in turn contributes to carcinogenesis. The aim of this work is to clarify the basic knowledge about the vital role of nutrition-related genes in various disease states, especially cancer, and to identify nutrigenetics as a new concept that could highlight the relation between nutrition and gene expression. This may help to understand the mechanism and pathogenesis of cancer. The cause of cancer is a complex interplay mechanism of genetic and environmental factors. Dietary nutrient intake is an essential environmental factor and there is a marked variation in cancer development with the same dietary intake between individuals. This could be explained by the variation in their genetic polymorphisms, which leads to emergence of the concept of nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics.

Nutrigenomics in cancer: Revisiting the effects of natural compounds

“…The most frequent genetic variations in humans are SNPs, used to map the human genome [125]. A recent progress is related to next generation sequencing approaches that allowed the identification of important genetic heterogeneity of the human population [126]. Until present, thousands of genetic regions were evaluated (over 16,000 SNPs).…”

“…Increased level of homocysteine is connected with cardiovascular diseases and colon cancer risks as a result of their nutritional requirement. The needs of folic acids supplementation are much higher due to the fact that choline is required as a methyl donor for MTHFR gene [126]. A key polymorphism is (677C→T) causing the production of a variant of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene, responsible for the synthesis of 5-methyl THF.…”

Halalopathic: A New Concept in Medicine

“…It's thought that we have many of non-genetic changes that are triggered by lifestyle and environmental factors [22], but a great deal of debate about whether these changes can be passed along to future generations. It has been proven in many studies that genes are responsible for cell cycle regulation, DNA repair, angiogenesis, and apoptosis are suppressed and inactivated by epigenetic modification in the form of hypermethylation of their specific own CpG islands [23]. Thus, there are many good reasons to believe that non-genetic variability can be recognized as an important factor in the development and treatment of human disease [24].…”

Nutrigenetics—Personalized Nutrition in the Genetic Age

“…The majority of these are specific to colorectal cancer, which has clear links to dietary risk factors. 60, 61 Increased risk of colorectal cancer has been shown with high red meat consumption in combination with variants in CYP2E1, CYP1B1, SULT1A1 and other members of the cytochrome P450 family of detoxifying genes. 62-64 Several other gene variants have also been implicated in gene-diet interactions that have been shown to decrease colorectal cancer risk.…”