Riboflavin deficiency regulates inflammation-associated genes in rat esophageal intraepithelial neoplasia

Epidemiological studies suggest that dietary riboflavin deficiency and environmental exposure to N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine (NMBA) are common in China's high incidence area of esophageal cancer. Riboflavin deficiency has been documented as an important risk factor for esophageal cancer. In this study, we established a F344 rat esophageal tumor model that combines dietary riboflavin deficiency with exposure to NMBA. The results showed that riboflavin deficiency combined with NMBA (R0N+) enhanced the incidence of esophageal intraepithelial neoplasia, including in situ carcinoma, whereas normal levels of riboflavin combined with NMBA (RcN+) mainly induced the occurrence of esophageal benign hyperplasia and small amount of esophageal intraepithelial neoplasia. Oxidative DNA damage (8-OHdG) and DNA double-strand breaks (p-γH2AX) in R0N+ rats were higher than that in RcN+ rats. The aim of the present study is to analyze the mechanism of riboflavin deficiency-induced tumorigenesis. So, we used Affymetrix Clariom D(also known as Rat Transcriptome Array 1.0) to identify genes that were differentially expressed upon R0N+ esophageal intraepithelial neoplasia tissues.