Dietary tyramine promotes colon cancer risk and development via increased DNA damage and enhanced inflammation [ApcMin/+]

High consumption of dietary red or processed meat and fat are linked to increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). A number of potential mechanisms have been reported, such as the presence of dietary carcinogenic compounds, and elevated gut microbial degradation of proteins and glycoproteins. Tyramine is a commonly found biogenic amine in processed food and can also be produced by the gut microbiota from the dietary amino acid tyrosine. The role of tyramine in intestinal mucosal health and CRC tumorigenesis has not been well studied. Therefore, we used the human colorectal HCT116 cell line and the ApcMin/+ mouse model to investigate the role of tyramine in CRC. ApcMin/+ and WT mice at 6 weeks of age were oral gavaged daily with sterile-filtered tyramine solution at 3.2 mM and pH=7.01 (Sigma-Aldrich) or water for 7 weeks. We culminated the experiment at 13 weeks of age of mice, which represents an early stage of disease based on the previous survival analysis in ApcMin/+ mice that showed a drop in survival after 18-20 weeks of age (Curio et al., 2022).