ABSTRACT
The relationship between diet and disease has long been known to human medicine. A great effort has been made over the years to understand the consequences of nutrient deficiencies or excess intake on clinical conditions. Recently, nutrition research has incorporated genomics technology to study the reciprocal interactions between diet and genes, particularly in relation to the modulation of risk of chronic diseases. These technological advances led to the development of nutritional genomics, which comprises the study of both how genetic makeup affects response to nutrients (nutrigenetics) and how nutritional compounds modulate gene expression patterns and molecular
15.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................309 15.2 Origin of SNPs.............................................................................................. 311 15.3 SNPs in Selenoprotein Genes ....................................................................... 312 15.4 SNPs in Selenoprotein Genes and Diseases ................................................. 315
15.4.1 Breast Cancer .................................................................................... 332 15.4.2 Prostate Cancer ................................................................................. 333 15.4.3 Colorectal Cancer ............................................................................. 333 15.4.4 Pathway Approach to SNP in Selenoprotein Genes ......................... 335
15.5 Factors Influencing the Significance of SNPs .............................................. 336 15.5.1 Physiological Factors ........................................................................ 336 15.5.2 Genetic Interactions .......................................................................... 336 15.5.3 Biomarkers of Se Status in Association Studies ............................... 336
15.6 Conclusions and Perspectives ....................................................................... 337 Acknowledgment ................................................................................................... 338 References .............................................................................................................. 338
pathways (nutrigenomics). Nutritional genomics has not only contributed to a change in our perception of disease prevention at the individual and population levels by highlighting the needs to evaluate disease risk in the context of genetic background and exposures to causative agents and potential preventive dietary compounds, but as well it has provided a unique opportunity to use the wealth of data produced by genomic projects to understand the dynamic aspects of the relationship between genes and nutrients, in particular when individuals are exposed to a change of dietary resources.
