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Effect of chronic unpredictable stress on the chemopreventive potential of Quercetin in experimental carcinogenesis

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Abstract

Objective

Chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) can influence the risk and progression of cancer through increased oxidative stress. Quercetin (QU), a phytochemical found in daily foods, has been extensively studied as a chemopreventive agent against various types of cancers. Our aim was to investigate the role of CUS on the efficacy of QU against DMBA+TPA (7, 12-dimethylbenz (a) anthracene+12-O-Tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate)-induced skin carcinogenesis.

Methods

Eighty-four adult male Swiss albino mice were randomly divided into seven groups (12 mice/group) based on different treatments and killed after 16 weeks. Blood and skin tissues were collected for biochemical estimations, DNA damage analysis and fluorescent studies.

Results

Group receiving oral administration of QU together with DMBA+TPA showed significantly elevated antioxidant status accompanied by decreased lipid peroxidation and DNA damage, reduced tumor incidence, burden and yield as compared to the groups treated with DMBA+TPA or CUS+DMBA+TPA. However, the introduction of animals to CUS prior to oral QU administration decreased its efficacy as indicated by the declined antioxidant status along with increased lipid peroxidation, DNA damage, tumor incidence, burden and yield. The results of fluorescent spectral analysis also corroborated the above findings.

Conclusion

CUS not only increased the severity of carcinogenesis, but also suppressed the antioxidant and chemopreventive potential of QU through induction of oxidative stress, thereby emphasizing the need to manage or reduce stress during chemoprevention/chemotherapy.

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Acknowledgements

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Nida Suhail designed the study, performed literature search and prepared the original draft of the manuscript. Sabiha Fatima and Ashwag Saleh Alsharidah performed statistical analysis and reviewed the manuscript. Tehreem Aftab helped in data processing and analysis. Naheed Banu helped in data acquisition, reviewed and edited the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. This project did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Northern Border University, Arar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Nida Suhail

  2. Clinical Lab Science Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Sabiha Fatima

  3. Physiology Department, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Qassim, Saudi Arabia

    Ashwag Saleh Alsharidah

  4. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Northern Border University, Arar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Tehreem Aftab

  5. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Naheed Banu

  6. Department of Physical Therapy, College of Medical Rehabilitation, Qassim University, Qassim, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia

    Naheed Banu

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  1. Nida Suhail
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  4. Tehreem Aftab
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nida Suhail.

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Conflict of interest

Nida Suhail, Sabiha Fatima, Ashwag Saleh Alsharidah, Tehreem Aftab and Naheed Banu declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

The research was approved by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) and all the experimental protocols were conducted as per the CPCSEA (Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals, 714/02/a/CPCSEA) norms.

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Suhail, N., Fatima, S., Alsharidah, A.S. et al. Effect of chronic unpredictable stress on the chemopreventive potential of Quercetin in experimental carcinogenesis. Toxicol. Environ. Health Sci. 14, 213–222 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13530-022-00132-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13530-022-00132-x

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