The Potential Protective Effects of Polyphenols in Asbestos-Mediated Inflammation and Carcinogenesis of Mesothelium

Our plain-English summary of The Potential Protective Effects of Polyphenols in Asbestos-Mediated Inflammation and Carcinogenesis of Mesothelium, by M. Benvenuto, R. Mattera, G. Taffera, et al (Nutrients, 2016).

The study

• Authors: M. Benvenuto, R. Mattera, G. Taffera, M.G. Giganti, P. Lido, L. Masuelli, A. Modesti, R. Bei
• Journal: Nutrients
• Published: 2016;8(5)
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 24 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Malignant Mesothelioma (MM) is a tumor of the serous membranes linked to exposure to asbestos. A chronic inflammatory response orchestrated by mesothelial cells contributes to the development and progression of MM. The evidence that: (a) multiple signaling pathways are aberrantly activated in MM cells; (b) asbestos mediated-chronic inflammation has a key role in MM carcinogenesis; (c) the deregulation of the immune system might favor the development of MM; and (d) a drug might have a better efficacy when injected into a serous cavity thus bypassing biotransformation and reaching an effective dose has prompted investigations to evaluate the effects of polyphenols for the therapy and prevention of MM. Dietary polyphenols are able to inhibit cancer cell growth by targeting multiple signaling pathways, reducing inflammation, and modulating immune response. The ability of polyphenols to modulate the production of pro-inflammatory molecules by targeting signaling pathways or ROS might represent a key mechanism to prevent and/or to contrast the development of MM. In this review, we will report the current knowledge on the ability of polyphenols to modulate the immune system and production of mediators of inflammation, thus revealing an important tool in preventing and/or counteracting the growth of MM.

In plain English

This article is a review, not a new study. The authors summarized published research on how asbestos fibers cause long-lasting inflammation in the mesothelium, the lining of the body cavities where mesothelioma arises. They also reviewed whether polyphenols might counter this inflammation. Polyphenols are plant compounds found in foods such as fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee and wine. The polyphenol studies they described were laboratory experiments on mesothelioma cell lines, rat and mouse immune cells, and mice. In those cited studies, curcumin and EGCG (a green tea compound) raised reactive oxygen species and killed mesothelioma cells in laboratory cultures. Quercetin and rutin reduced asbestos injury to rat peritoneal macrophages, and ECG and EGCG protected these cells against chrysotile- and crocidolite-induced injury. A flaxseed lignan diet reduced acute inflammation in mice injected with crocidolite. The authors noted that polyphenols have low bioavailability in the human body, which limits their use as cancer drugs. They concluded that polyphenols might represent a promising strategy against mesothelioma. They also suggested that giving them directly into the body cavity could deliver an effective dose at the tumor site.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Narrative review of published laboratory, animal and other studies
• Who was studied: No new participants. The polyphenol studies reviewed used mesothelioma cell lines (e.g. MSTO-211H, H-MESO, REN), peritoneal macrophages of Wistar rats, murine peritoneal macrophages, and mouse models.
• Exposure: Polyphenols (including curcumin, EGCG, ECG, resveratrol, quercetin, rutin, hesperidin and flaxseed lignans), studied in cited experiments, some with exposure to crocidolite or chrysotile asbestos
• Main results:
  • In a cited cell study, curcumin at 40 µM increased reactive oxygen species in HMESO mesothelioma cells, leading to pyroptotic cell death
  • In a cited study, EGCG induced reactive oxygen species, and this was responsible for apoptosis of mesothelioma cells in vitro
  • In a cited study, EGCG added to culture medium formed hydrogen peroxide and decreased proliferation of both mesothelioma cells and normal MET5A cells
  • In cited studies by Kostyuk et al., quercetin and rutin reduced asbestos-caused injury of peritoneal macrophages
  • In cited studies by Kostyuk et al., ECG and EGCG protected peritoneal macrophages against chrysotile- and crocidolite-induced injury
  • In a cited mouse study, a dietary flaxseed lignan reduced acute inflammation after intraperitoneal crocidolite injection
  • In cited mouse xenograft studies, butein affected tumor engraftment and potentiated pemetrexed
  • In a cited study, intraperitoneal resveratrol decreased tumor volume
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that polyphenols might represent a promising strategy to counter or prevent mesothelioma. They suggested that local administration in the serous cavity might be a better treatment strategy.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors state that low bioavailability limits the clinical use of polyphenols as anticancer agents
  • The authors note that only nano- or micromolar concentrations of polyphenols reach the blood

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer, Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Inflammation, Carcinogenesis, Mesothelium, Malignant Mesothelioma, Mesothelial Cells, Chronic Inflammation.

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