Morphological and global gene expression analysis of mammary tissue of young female rats treated in utero with high-saturated fatty acid diet

• Grant number: 12/03330-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2012
• Effective date (End): July 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Nutrition - Nutrition Biochemistry
• Principal Investigator: Thomas Prates Ong
• Grantee: Fábia de Oliveira Andrade
• Supervisor: Leena Annikki Hilakivi-Clarke
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Georgetown University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 10/11742-0 - Nutrition and fetal origins of breast cancer: consumption of high saturated fat diet by rats during pregnancy and female offspring's susceptibility to mammary carcinogenesis, BP.DR

Abstract

As described for other non-communicable chronic diseases, it is also hypothesized that breast cancer would have a fetal origin. In 1990, Trichopoulos suggested that some breast cancer were programmed in the intrauterine environment due to exposure to high levels of estrogen. An inadequate food intake by women during pregnancy may be particularly important to modify the fetal environment and thus increasing the susceptibility of breast cancer in adulthood. This phenomenon would involve increasing the number of "Terminal End Buds" (TEBs) as well as cell proliferation in this mammary structure, which is the site of origin of this neoplasia. Undernutrition or even an excess of intrauterine nutrients would epigenetically reprogram gene expression in mammary glands resulting in TEBs more prone to malignant transformation. According to results from the PhD DRII scholarship project "Nutrition and fetal origins of breast cancer: consumption of high saturated fatty acid diet by rats during pregnancy and female offspring's susceptibility to mammary carcinogenesis", to which the present project is associated to, we have observed that contrary to what was expected, female rats exposed to a high-saturated fatty acid diet during the fetal period presented with reduced susceptibility to breast cancer when compared to the control group. In view of these unexpected results, yet highly interesting, it was reasoned that it would be key to identify biomarkers and cell signaling pathways that could explain them, in order to refine further analysis on the epigenetic mechanisms involved in breast cancer fetal programming. For that, we intend to evaluate the morphology of mammary glands and global gene expression pattern in mammary tissue of young female rats treated or not, in utero, with high saturated fatty acid diet. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ANDRADE, FABIA DE OLIVEIRA; FONTELLES, CAMILE CASTILHO; ROSIM, MARIANA PAPALEO; DE OLIVEIRA, TIAGO FRANCO; DE MELO LOUREIRO, ANA PAULA; MANCINI-FILHO, JORGE; ROGERO, MARCELO MACEDO; MORENO, FERNANDO SALVADOR; DE ASSIS, SONIA; BARBISAN, LUIZ FERNANDO; et al. Exposure to lard-based high-fat diet during fetal and lactation periods modifies breast cancer susceptibility in adulthood in rats. JOURNAL OF NUTRITIONAL BIOCHEMISTRY, v. 25, n. 6, p. 613-622, JUN 2014. (12/03330-9, 10/11742-0, 11/23259-4)

ANDRADE, FABIA DE OLIVEIRA; DE ASSIS, SONIA; JIN, LU; FONTELLES, CAMILE CASTILHO; BARBISAN, LUIS FERNANDO; PURGATTO, EDUARDO; HILAKIVI-CLARKE, LEENA; ONG, THOMAS PRATES. Lipidomic fatty acid profile and global gene expression pattern in mammary gland of rats that were exposed to lard-based high fat diet during fetal and lactation periods associated to breast cancer risk in adulthood. Chemico-Biological Interactions, v. 239, p. 118-128, SEP 5 2015. (12/03330-9, 10/11742-0, 11/23259-4)