Diet, Genes and Colorectal Cancer - With Focus on Toll-like Receptor Polymorphisms

Colorectal Cancer

Gene-environment interaction, Candidate gene, Western style diet, Toll-like receptors, Prospective study, Nested case-cohort

The aim of this study is to investigate the interaction between diet - primary meat and fiber - and polymorphisms in Toll-like receptors in relation to risk of colorectal cancer in a Danish prospective cohort.

Meat and dietary fibers have been associated with increased and decreased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), respectively. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) regulate intestinal immune response in a complex interplay between the mucosal epithelium and the microbiota and may therefore be important modulators of diet-induced CRC and interact with other inflammatory mediators. The aim of the study is to investigate the association with functional TLR polymorphisms in relation to risk of CRC and their interaction with dietary factors. Additionally, interactions with previously studied polymorphisms in IL10, IL1B, PTGS2 and NFKB1 will be assessed in order to examine possible biological pathways in meat-induced CRC. Data are retrieved from the Danish prospective Diet, Cancer and Health study encompassing 57,053 persons which were recruited between 1993 to 1997. Between 1994 and 31th December 2009, 1038 CRC cases has been diagnosed. A sub-cohort of 1857 persons has been randomly selected within the full cohort at time of entry into the cohort. The study design is a nested case-cohort study.