Funding Opportunities

NCI Invites Investigators to Study Diet-induced Changes and Colon Cancer

The National Cancer Institute currently accepts grant applications in response to two program announcements (PA) both titled “Diet-Induced Changes in Inflammation as Determinants of Colon Cancer.” The first announcement PA-06-283 uses the R21 grant mechanism, and the second PA-07-186 uses the R01 mechanism. The goal of both PAs is to foster innovative research that will identify and characterize diet-induced changes in inflammation and colon cancer risk.

The increased risk of developing colon cancer in patients with ulcerative colitis and the observed benefits of anti-inflammatory drugs in retarding intestinal tumors provide rather compelling evidence that inflammation is involved with cancer at this site. Several epidemiological and preclinical studies reveal that specific bioactive food components can suppress colonic inflammation as well as reduce colon cancer risk. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether these diet-induced shifts in the inflammatory process account for their antitumorigenic properties. The lack of mechanistic information serves as the basis for this funding opportunity.

Specific goals of these initiatives are as follows:

• identify and characterize diet-induced changes in anti- and proinflammatory mediators that modulate colon cancer risk,
• define genetic polymorphisms that modify the response to specific bioactive food components with regard to colon cancer inhibition, and
• unravel the physiological effectiveness of dietary components in terms of concentration, activity, duration of exposure, degree of stability, chemical forms, and binding affinity to receptors in inflammatory colonocytes.

Possible research topics include, but are not limited to, the following examples:

• Examination of any association(s) between the inhibition of pro-inflammatory mediators (e.g., TNF-a, NF-kB) with the efficacy of resveratrol and curcumin and colon cancer cell growth rates;
• Evaluation of whether anti-inflammatory mediators (e.g., TGF-b) might account for the effect of dietary butyrate on colon tumor growth inhibition;
• Evaluation of whether polymorphisms in anti- or proinflammatory genes might explain the differential responsiveness among individuals to dietary n-3 fatty acids with regard to colon cancer inhibition;
• Examination of whether the modulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and/or reactive nitrogen species (RNS) might explain possible associations of green tea polyphenols and selenium with reductions in colon cancer incidence; and
• Examination of whether the production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and/or nitric oxide (NO) might be influenced by dietary conjugated linoleic acid and/or associated with colon cancer risk.

The expiration date for both PAs is September 8, 2008. Applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov) using the SF424 Research and Related (R&R) forms and the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

For more information on these PAs, please visit http://cam.cancer.gov/research/cam_related_funding.htm.

Active Program Annoucements

The Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine offers a list of active program announcements that are relevant to cancer CAM on its Web site. For more information on the announcements below, please visit http://cam.cancer.gov/research/cam_related_funding.htm.