LIPIDS FOUND IN MILK, CHEESE, AND SOYBEANS INHIBIT THE PROGRESSION OF COLON
CANCER IN MICE

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Scientists at the Experimental Biology '99 meeting in Washington, D.C. reported Monday that a group of cellular building blocks called sphingolipids inhibit tumor progression in mice. In two studies, Emory University researchers Eva-Marie Schmelz, Ph.D., and Alfred H. Merrill, Jr., Ph.D. fed sphingolipids to mice that had been treated with a colon carcinogen or to a strain of mice that spontaneously develop colon tumors similar to those seen in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis, a hereditary disease in which patients develop thousands of adenomas, or polyps, some of which eventually progress to cancer.

In both studies, mice that were fed the sphingolipids had a significant reduction in tumor number or in other markers for colon carcinogenesis. The genesis for the research was the recent finding that digestion products of sphingolipids are toxic for tumor cells in culture, suggesting that sphingolipids in food might affect colon cancer. Sphingolipids are found in many foods, but are particularly rich in dairy products and soybeans; therefore, these widespread, but largely ignored, lipids may contribute to some of the unexplained relationships between diet and cancer.

However, Dr. Schmelz cautions that "We cannot say right now that this will cure colon cancer in humans, but we do believe our findings show promise."

More information about the sphingolipid research is available in the May 31, 1997 issue of Science News.