Transcriptomic profile in the liver of rats treated with the chemopreventive butyrate-containing structured lipids.

It is widely believed that the prevention of cancer is the most promising strategy for reducing both cancer incidence and cancer-related mortality. Dietary bioactive components have been found to modulate many dysregulated molecular pathways associated with the development of cancer. Epidemiological and pre-clinical data suggest that sodium butyrate and its derivatives possess chemopreventive properties. Specifically, the butyrate-containing structured lipid (STL) presented strong chemopreventive proprieties in experimental hepatocarcinogenesis. To determine the mechanistic basis, the hepatic transcriptomic profiles in rats submitted to a classic “resistant hepatocyte” model of hepatocarcinogenesis and treated with butyrate-containing STL were evaluated. A total of 1583 genes were found to be differentially expressed in the livers of rats treated with butyrate-containing STL. Pathways analysis of the differentially expressed genes demonstrated a strong enrichment in genes involved in epithelial mesenchymal transition, vasculogenesis, and cell proliferation. In conclusion, tumor-suppressing activity of butyrate containing STLs is associated with its ability to regulated major hepatocarcinogenesis-related pathways at early stages of rat liver carcinogenesis. Transcriptomic profile in the liver of rats treated with butyrate-containing structured lipid (n=4). Age-matched control samples were also analyzed (n=4).