Center for Population Health & Health Disparities

PILOT 2

Chemopreventive Assessment of Black Raspberries on Human Cervical Cancer: A pilot study aimed at impacting the health disparities the Appalachian population

Investigator Christopher Weghorst, Ph.D.

Numerous epidemiological studies have shown the strong correlation between frequent consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables and a decreased cancer risk. In support of that data, several preclinical animal studies have been conducted that demonstrate the remarkable chemopreventive activity of black raspberries on chemically-induced aerodigestive tract tumor development from epithelial cells, including oral, esophagus, and colon. Recently, studies by us have shown that an extract of lyophilized black raspberries (LBR) dramatically inhibits the in vitro proliferation of epithelial cells derived from a human oral squamous cell carcinoma, suggesting that the chemoprevention of human cancer by LBR components in vivo is possible. This LBR-induced chemopreventive effect is specifically associated with the down-regulated and up-regulated of 31 and 23 genes, respectively in these epithelial cells. These specific genes have been termed “LBR-responsive” and represent the most promising molecular pathways potentially responsible for the chemopreventive activity induced by LBR extract on human oral cancer cells in vitro .

The present proposal strives to extend the chemopreventive assessment of this fruit to the problem of human cervical cancer. We proposed to develop similar in vitro data, assessing the chemopreventive effects of LBR extracts on the proliferation rates of various human cervical cancer cell lines and on the expression of HPV early antigen genes (E6 and E7). Since there is little difference between the squamous epithelium of the oral cavity and cervix, we would expect a similar anti-proliferative effect to be elicited by the LBR extract on cervical cancer cell growth.