The rice bran constituent tricin potently inhibits cyclooxygenase enzymes and interferes with intestinal carcinogenesis in ApcMin mice

While brown rice is a staple dietary constituent in Asia, rice consumed in the Western world is generally white, obtained from brown rice by removal of the bran. Rice bran contains the flavone tricin, which has been shown to inhibit colon cancer cell growth. We tested the hypothesis that tricin interferes with adenoma formation in the ApcMin mouse. Mice received tricin (0.2%) in their American Institute of Nutrition 93G diet throughout their postweaning life span (4–18 weeks). Consumption of tricin reduced numbers of intestinal adenomas by 33% (P < 0.05) compared with mice on control diet. We explored whether tricin may exert its effect via inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes. Its effect on COX activity was assessed in purified enzyme preparations in vitro and its ability to reduce prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels in human colon–derived human colon epithelial cell (HCEC) and HCA-7 cells in vitro and in ApcMin mice in vivo. Tricin inhibited activity of purified COX-1 and COX-2 enzyme preparations with IC50 values of ∼1 μmol/L. At 5 μmol/L, it reduced PGE2 production in HCEC or HCA-7 cells by 36% (P < 0.01) and 35% (P < 0.05), respectively. COX-2 expression was reduced by tricin weakly in HCEC and unaffected in HCA-7 cells. PGE2 levels in the small intestinal mucosa and blood of ApcMin mice that had received tricin were reduced by 34% (P < 0.01) and 40% (P < 0.05), respectively, compared with control mice. The results suggest that tricin should be further evaluated as a putative colorectal cancer chemopreventive agent.