Differential Gene Regulation and Tumor-Inhibitory Activities of Alpha-, Delta-, and Gamma-Tocopherols in Estrogen-Mediated Mammary Carcinogenesis

Despite experimental evidence elucidating the antitumor activities of tocopherols, clinical trials with α-tocopherol (α-T) have failed to demonstrate its beneficial effects in cancer prevention. This study compared the chemopreventive efficacy of individual tocopherols (α-, -, and -T) and a -T–rich tocopherol mixture (-TmT) in the August-Copenhagen Irish (ACI) rat model of estrogen-mediated mammary cancer. Female ACI rats receiving 17β-estradiol (E2) implants were administered with 0.2% α-T, -T, -T, or -TmT for 30 weeks. Although α-T had no significant effects on mammary tumor growth in ACI rats, -T, -T, and -TmT reduced mammary tumor volume by 51% (P < 0.05), 60% (P < 0.01), and 59% (P < 0.01), respectively. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that -T, -T, and -TmT reduced levels of the cell proliferation marker, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, in the rat mammary tumors. To gain further insight into the biological functions of different forms of tocopherols, RNA-seq analysis of the tumors was performed. Treatment with -T induced robust gene expression changes in the mammary tumors of ACI rats. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis identified "Cancer" as a top disease pathway and "Tumor growth" and "Metastasis" as the top signaling pathways modulated by -T. Although the results need further functional validation, this study presents an unbiased attempt to understand the differences between biological activities of individual forms of tocopherols at the whole transcriptome level. In conclusion, -T and -T have superior cancer preventive properties compared to α-T in the prevention of estrogen-mediated mammary carcinogenesis. Cancer Prev Res; 10(12); 694–703. ©2017 AACR.

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