Our laboratory investigates ways to prevent colon cancer. Our focus is on the chemoprevention of cancer, a discipline of cancer research that employs the use of drugs and natural agents to intervene in the process of carcinogenesis before invasive cancer appears. We study cancer biology using a number of human cancer cell lines and also utilize novel animal models for colon cancer.
Our laboratory is in the Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina. We concentrate on the search for natural agents that inhibit the process of chronic inflammation, believed to increase the risk for future cancer. Habitual intake of NSAIDS (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) is associated with reduced for common forms of cancer, including colon cancer. Because of the toxicity associated with pharmaceutical NSAIDs, we have examining botanical agents that may interfere with chronic inflammation. These include compounds from green tea, the herbal supplements ginkgo and ginseng, and traditional medicines from other cultures.
We are conducting research to identify cancer prevention agents in traditional medicines used in West Africa. For several years this research has taken us to the West African nation of the Republic of Guinea. One of traditional medicines used there are is the bark of Senegal mahogany (Khaya senegalensis) which appears to inhibit the COX-2 enzyme in human colorectal cell lines studied in the lab.
African Medicinal Plant Team
A Traditional Healer - Kankan, Republic of Guinea, West Africa
Freshly Collected Shea Nuts near Kankan, Guinea
Our studies on green tea polyphenols suggest epirgenetic regulation of regulatory genes in colon cancer progression. We are investigating the role of EGCG on the silencing of the RXRα gene in the APCMin+/ mouse, an animal model for colon cancer.
Epigenetic regulation of RXR alpha via inhibition DNMTs and HDACs
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