New nutrition, proteomics, and how both can enhance studies in cancer prevention and therapy

The increased application of MS technologies to nutrition and cancer prevention research has enabled unique insights into the health benefits of polyphenols. Polyphenols are phytochemicals that appear to have chemical properties that provide valuable health benefits when ingested. In particular, experiments have suggested that grape seed proanthocyanidins, oligomers of the catechin family of polyphenols, may have health benefits, possibly due to their capacity to be oxidized. Two-dimensional gel proteomics technology identified specific rat brain proteins that were differentially affected after ingestion of grape seed extract. Beneficial changes in the expression of these proteins were observed relative to changes seen in the brains of Alzheimer disease patients at autopsy and of transgenic mouse models of dementia. These findings were consistent with the hypothesis that grape seed polyphenols may have neuroprotective activity. Previous experiments showed that grape seed extract was significantly chemopreventive in a rat model of breast cancer, but this depended on the specific diet in which the grape seed was administered. Thus, phytochemicals such as polyphenols may have health benefits in mammalian tissues unrelated to classical nutritional deficiency models. This report illustrates how experimental approaches that combine proteomics technologies with a dietary intervention with specific phytochemicals in normal animals can enhance studies on cancer prevention and treatment.