PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF FULLERENOL NANO PARTICLES ON COLON CANCER DEVELOPMENT IN DIMETHYLHYDRAZINE RAT MODEL

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers world-wide, with highest incidence rates in western countries. In recent years, much effort has been dedicated in search for natural or pharmacological preventive agents, which would block or attenuate CRC process. In search for new pharmacological agent, the effects of fullerenol C60(OH)24 nano particles (FNP) on liver oxidative status and promotion or progression phase of colorectal carcinogenesis in dimethylhydrazine-induced rat model of CRC were investigated. Our results demonstrate that FNP effectively inhibited formation of dysplastic aberrant crypt foci, which are regarded as early histopathological lesions in the pathogenesis of CRC. FNP treatment also improved activity of antioxidant enzymes in the liver. Since this was the first study investigating FNP effects on colon carcinogenesis further studies are needed to evaluate its protective effect also in other phases of carcinogenesis and to investigate whether its inhibitory activity was due to modulation of carcinogen-induced oxidative stress or another yet unknown anticarcinogenic activity.