Kill and cure: dietary augmentation of immune defences against colon cancer

At its most fundamental, cancer is a genetic disease resulting from inherit ed or acquired mutations in tumour suppressor genes and proto-oncogenes. En vironmental factors, including ingested food components, interact with gene tic inheritance to determine individual cancer risk. There is growing evide nce that the immune system exerts selective pressure during neoplastic deve lopment. Tumour cells that evade this immunosurveillance because they are n on-antigenic or because they defend themselves successfully against immune attack have a survival advantage. Effective chemopreventative agents will i nclude dietary components that enhance the immune system's ability to ident ify transformed cells and to target them for apoptosis.