Less than 1.5% of total biomedical research funding is targeted to early detection and prevention of chronic disease. The increasing prevalence of adult and adolescent obesity and its associated risk of colon cancer reinforces the urgent need to elucidate the underlying mechanisms contributing to the promotion of colon cancer in obese individuals. An abundance of global epidemiological evidence suggests the risk of colon increases proportionally to body-mass index in men and women. In Texas, obesity is a major health concern as 70% of adults are considered overweight or obese. In preclinical studies, high-fat diet (HFD) induced-obesity has also been shown to accelerate gastrointestinal tumor...

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Less than 1.5% of total biomedical research funding is targeted to early detection and prevention of chronic disease. The increasing prevalence of adult and adolescent obesity and its associated risk of colon cancer reinforces the urgent need to elucidate the underlying mechanisms contributing to the promotion of colon cancer in obese individuals. An abundance of global epidemiological evidence suggests the risk of colon increases proportionally to body-mass index in men and women. In Texas, obesity is a major health concern as 70% of adults are considered overweight or obese. In preclinical studies, high-fat diet (HFD) induced-obesity has also been shown to accelerate gastrointestinal tumorigenesis in mouse models of colon cancer.

Consistent with the scope of the CPRIT High-Impact/High-Risk Research Award, the proposed experiments are highly novel and relevant because they integrate for the first time the effects of obesity-induced biophysical distortions in the colon with elevated cancer-causing signals. In addition, in this proposal, the utility of cell membrane therapy will be assessed as a countermeasure to reduce obesity-associated aberrant signaling and the initiation of colon cancer.

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