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Background: Adherence to a healthy diet has been reported to be essential for the primary prevention of colorectal cancer, through a reduction of tissue inflammation, a low concentration of circulating lipoproteins and lower levels of serum cholesterol. Since an altered expression of the fatty acids pattern has been demonstrated to be a crucial event in colorectal carcinogenesis, lipidomic analysis is considered able to identify early diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of complex diseases such as colorectal cancer. Methods: cell membrane fatty acid profile and serum lipoproteins pattern were evaluated by gas chromatography and electrophoresis method respectively. Results: There is a close association between diet and lipidomic profile in colorectal cancer, both in pre-clinical and clinical studies. A modified serum lipoproteins pattern has been demonstrated to be predominant in intestinal tumors. Conclusions: The study of fatty acids profile in cell membrane and the evaluation of serum lipoproteins subfractions could be useful to have an integrate vision on the interactions between lipids and the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer and to understand the mechanisms of action and the consequences of these interactions on human health status. (www.actabiomedica.it). © Mattioli 1885.

Food industries are increasingly oriented toward new foods to improve nutritional status and/or to combat nutritional deficiency diseases. In this context, silicon biofortification could be an innovative tool for obtaining new foods with possible positive effects on bone mineralization. In this paper, an alternative and quick in vitro approach was applied in order to evaluate the potential health-promoting effects of five silicon-biofortified leafy vegetables (tatsoi, mizuna, purslane, Swiss chard and chicory) on bone mineralization compared with a commercial silicon supplement. The silicon bioaccessibility and bioavailability of the five leafy vegetables (biofortified or not) and of the supplement were assessed by applying a protocol consisting of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion coupled with a Caco-2 cell model. Silicon bioaccessibility ranged from 0.89 to 8.18 mg/L and bioavailability ranged from 111 to 206 μg/L of Si for both vegetables and supplement. Furthermore, the bioavailable fractions were tested on a human osteoblast cell model following the expression of type 1 collagen and alkaline phosphatase. The results obtained highlighted that the bioavailable fraction of biofortified purslane and Swiss chard improved the expression of both osteoblast markers compared with the supplement and other vegetables. These results underline the potentially beneficial effect of biofortified leafy vegetables and also indicate the usefulness of in vitro approaches for selecting the best vegetable with positive bone effects for further in vivo research.

Changes in the regulation of endocannabinoid production, together with an altered expression of their receptors are hallmarks of cancer, including colorectal cancer (CRC). Although several studies have been conducted to understand the biological role of the CB1 receptor in cancer, little is known about its involvement in the metastatic process of CRC. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible link between CB1 receptor expression and the presence of metastasis in patients with CRC, investigating the main signaling pathways elicited downstream of CB1 receptor in colon cancer. Fifty-nine consecutive patients, with histologically proven colorectal cancer, were enrolled in the study, of which 30 patients with synchronous metastasis, at first diagnosis and 29 without metastasis. A low expression of CB1 receptor were detected in primary tumor tissue of CRC patients with metastasis and consequently, we observed an alteration of CB1 receptor downstream signaling. These signaling routes were also altered in intestinal normal mucosa, suggesting that, normal mucosa surrounding the tumor provides a realistic picture of the molecules involved in tissue malignant transformation. These observations contribute to the idea that drugs able to induce CB1 receptor expression can be helpful in order to set new anticancer therapeutic strategies. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.