CHAPTER 21:l-Carnosine and Human Colon Cancer

Colon cancer is a multifactorial disease, although diet and chronic inflammation are considered the main risk factors for developing this cancer. Treatment of colorectal cancer depends on the location, size, and extent of cancer spread, as well as the health of the patient. Chemotherapy can extend and improve quality of life but surgery is still the most common treatment for colorectal cancer. Recently, considerable effort has been directed to the discovery of chemical or natural molecules targeting proteins involved in the colorectal carcinogenesis signaling pathway through a variety of molecular mechanisms, including transcriptional or translational regulation, degradation or transactivation. The dipeptide l-carnosine has emerged as having an increasingly interesting role in colon cancer. The discovery of the ability of l-carnosine to inhibit the inflammatory response of intestinal epithelial cancer cells, as well as the proliferation of colon cancer cells broadens the concept of food as a modulator of physiological functions. Although the mechanism is not fully understood, based on recent observations, in this chapter a molecular model has been proposed that provides possible targets through which l-carnosine may affect the inflammatory status as well as the proliferation of colon cancer cells.