ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the role of dietary fat on the development of 'human and experimental cancer and examines the role of gene expression as a mechanism by which dietary fat may alter the development of cancer. Cancer clearly is a disease of alterations both in genetic structure and in genetic expression, both of which can be affected by dietary fat. After the administration of a chemical carcinogen, there is a latency period before the actual appearance of a neoplasm. Mouse skin is one of the oldest and most widely used systems for studying chemical carcinogenesis, including multistage carcinogenesis. In correlational epidemiological studies, high dietary fat intakes are also associated with a higher incidence of ovarian and prostatic cancer. More studies have examined whether the enhancement of hepatocarcinogenesis is caused by an effect on the initiation of carcinogenesis, the promotion of carcinogenesis, or both.
