Barrett's esophagus is thought to be a disease occurring predominantly in White Caucasian males of higher socioeconomic status. There are no published studies simultaneously examining risk of Barrett's esophagus according to ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status within a single data set. The authors conducted a retrospective case-control analysis within a cross-sectional study to determine risk of Barrett's esophagus in relation to sociodemographic variables in a large United Kingdom population. All patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy at two clinical centers between January 2000 and January 2003 were evaluated. Data on ethnicity, age, gender, socioeconomic status, and the presence of Barrett's esophagus and esophagitis at endoscopy were collected. A total of 20,310 patients were analyzed. Barrett's esophagus was more common in White Caucasians (401/14,095 (2.8%)) than in South Asians (16/5,190 (0.3%)) (adjusted odds ratio (OR)=6.03, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.56, 10.22), as was esophagitis (2,500/14,095 (17.7%) vs. 557/5,190 (10.7%); adjusted OR=1.76, 95% CI: 1.57, 1.97). Patients with Barrett's esophagus were also more likely to be male (adjusted OR=2.70, 95% CI: 2.18, 3.35) and of higher socioeconomic status (adjusted OR=1.58, 95% CI: 1.16, 2.15 (top tertile vs. bottom tertile)). White Caucasian ethnicity, male gender, and higher socioeconomic status are independent risk factors for Barrett's esophagus.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is partly caused by oxidative stress from free radicals and reduced antioxidant levels. Using hydrogen peroxide to induce oxidative stress in vitro in peripheral lymphocytes we investigated the induction of DNA damage supplemented with ethanolic extract of Chaga mushroom as a protective antioxidant. Lymphocytes were obtained from 20 IBD patients and 20 healthy volunteers. For treatment, a constant H_{2}O_{2 } dose (50 microg/ml) was used with variable doses of Chaga extract (10-500 microg/ml). DNA damage was evaluated in 50 cells per individual and dose using the Comet assay (making 1000 observations per experimental point ensuring appropriate statistical power). Chaga supplementation resulted in a 54.9% (p < 0.001) reduction of H_{2}O_{2 } induced DNA damage within the patient group and 34.9% (p < 0.001) within the control group. Lymphocytes from Crohn's disease (CD) patients had a greater basic DNA damage than Ulcerative Colitis (UC) patients (p < 0.001). Conclusively, Chaga extract reduces oxidative stress in lymphocytes from IBD patients and also healthy individuals when challenged in vitro. Thus, Chaga extract could be a possible and valuable supplement to inhibit oxidative stress in general.
To use lymphocytes as surrogate cells to investigate their in vitro sensitivities to ultraviolet (UV) treatment in different cancers and precancerous states by comparison with lymphocytes from healthy control individuals was the main aim of this research. UV light induces precise cellular and genomic mutations. In this study, the effect of ultraviolet A (UVA) (320-400 nm) was used as a generic mutagen to evaluate in vitro different sensitivities from lymphocytes of patients with suspected melanoma (SM), malignant melanoma (MM), polyposis coli (PC) and colorectal cancer (CRC). DNA damage was evaluated by two different methods: the micronucleus (MN) assay and the Comet assay. The baseline frequency of MNs was significantly increased in lymphocytes from all patients (SM, MM, PC and CRC) when compared to healthy individuals. After UV irradiation, MN frequencies were significantly increased in lymphocytes of all groups, both patients and healthy individuals. However, the MN frequency in all patient groups was significantly higher than in the healthy individual group. Similar results for the induction of genomic DNA damage were obtained for the Comet assay. Also for the Comet assay, UVA-induced DNA damage for all four patient groups was significantly increased when compared to healthy individuals (SM, MM, PC and CRC groups: P < 0.001). Conclusively, peripheral lymphocytes from patients with cancers MM and CRC or precancerous states SM and PC are more sensitive to a generic mutagen such as UVA than lymphocytes from healthy individuals. This feature may be used as an essential biomarker to screen and diagnose precancerous states and cancers in early stages.
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