Dietary fiber intake is linked to a reduced risk of colon cancer. This effect may in part be due to butyrate, the fermentation product of fiber in the colon. Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid that acts as a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi). Butyrate induces apoptosis and represses clonal growth of colorectal cancer (CRC) cells, in a manner dependent upon the hyperactivation of Wnt /beta...

BACKGROUND Butyrate has been implicated in the mechanistic basis of the prevention of colorectal cancer by dietary fibre. Numerous in vitro studies have shown that butyrate regulates cell cycle and cell death. More recently we have shown that butyrate also regulates the integrity of the intermediate filament (IF) cytoskeleton in vitro. These and other data suggest a link between the role of die...

Dietary fibre protects against colorectal cancer (CRC) most likely through the activity of its fermentation product, butyrate. Butyrate functions as a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) that hyperactivates Wnt signalling and induces apoptosis of CRC cells. However, individuals who consume a high-fibre diet may still develop CRC; therefore, butyrate resistance may develop over time. Furthermo...

We have previously shown that butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid fiber fermentation product, induces colonocyte apoptosis via a nonmitochondrial, Fas-mediated, extrinsic pathway. Interestingly, fermentable fiber when combined with fish oil containing docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) exhibits an enhanced ability to induce apoptosis and protect against colon tumorigenesis. To determine the mol...

Butyrate, a short chain fatty acid produced in the colon, induces apoptosis in cancer cell lines by a sequential process involving inhibition of histone deacetylase, de novo protein synthesis and activation of DEVD-caspase, a major effector of apoptotic DNA fragmentation and membrane blebbing. We now show, in LIM 1215 colorectal cancer cells, that butyrate, in addition to activating DEVD-caspas...

Colo-rectal cancer (CRC) is the second-most-common cause of cancer-related death in the Western world. DNA-mismatch repair (MMR) genes regulate key cellular processes, including correction of DNA replication errors. Impaired functioning of MMR has been implicated in the aetiology of hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer and in £15% of sporadic CRC. The C4 fatty acid, butyric acid, which is prod...

The histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, butyrate and trichostatin A (TSA), are epigenetic histone modifiers and proliferation inhibitors by downregulating cyclin D1, a positive cell cycle regulator, and upregulating p21Cip1 and INK family of proteins, negative cell cycle regulators. Our recent study indicated cyclin D1 upregulation in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) that are proliferatio...

Purpose: The causes of colon cancer can be divided into genetic and environmental components. A high-fiber diet is known to reduce the risk of colon cancer. Dietary fiber is converted to short chain fatty acid, butyrate, in the colon by bacteria. Butyrate is used as an energy source for the colonic epithelial cells, and is known to induce apoptosis in colon cancer cell lines. Survivin, a recent...

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors have been shown to modify the expression of a variety of genes related to cell cycle regulation and apoptosis in several cancer cells. However, the precise mode of action of HDAC inhibitors in prostate cancer cells is not completely understood. This study examined whether an HDAC inhibitor affects cell death in human prostate cancer cells through the epigen...

1. This study aimed to determine the effect of luminal butyrate on proliferative kinetics, a differentiation marker (alkaline phosphatase), and a molecule that controls cell-substratum adhesion (urokinase) in histologically normal human rectal mucosa. 2. Ten subjects with a colonoscopically normal colon (seven had previous adenomas) were given either butyrate or saline enemas for 4 days in a do...