UT Medical Researcher Determines Link Between Foie Gras And Disease

University of
Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine professor and researcher Alan
Solomon, M.D., director of the Human Immunology and Cancer/Alzheimer's
Disease and Amyloid-Related Disorders Research Program, led a team that
discovered a link between foie gras prepared from goose or duck liver and
the type of amyloid found in rheumatoid arthritis or tuberculosis.



Their experimental data, appearing in this week's edition of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has provided the first
evidence that a food product can hasten amyloid development.



Amyloidosis is a disease process involving the deposit of normal or
mutated proteins that have become misfolded. In this unstable state, such
proteins form hair-like fibers, or fibrils, that are deposited into vital
organs like the heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas and brain. This process
leads to organ failure and, eventually, death. There are many types of
amyloid- related diseases in addition to rheumatoid arthritis, such as
Alzheimer's disease, adult-onset (type-2) diabetes and an illness related
to multiple myeloma called primary or AL amyloidosis, an illness that has
been a particular focus of study in the Solomon laboratory.



Foie gras is a culinary delicacy derived from massively enlarged fatty
livers of ducks and geese. It is produced by gorging the fowl over several
weeks. Solomon and his research team analyzed commercially sold foie gras
from the U.S. and France and found that it contained a type of amyloid
called AA. Amyloid deposits are commonly found in waterfowl, but this
condition is noticeably increased in force-fed birds. In their study, mice
prone to develop AA amyloidosis were injected or fed amyloid extracted from
foie gras. Within eight weeks, a majority of the animals developed
extensive amyloid deposits in the liver, spleen, intestine and other
organs.



Based on the findings of the study, Solomon and his team concluded that
this and perhaps other forms of amyloidosis might be transmissible, like
"mad cow" and other related diseases. Until now, no other infectious
sources of food products have been found.



"It is not known if there is an increase of Alzheimer's disease,
diabetes or other amyloid-related disease in people who have eaten foie
gras," cautioned Solomon. "Our study looked at the existence of amyloid
fibrils in foie gras and showed that it could accelerate the development of
AA amyloidosis in susceptible mice. Perhaps people with a family history of
Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis or other amyloid-
associated diseases should avoid consuming foie gras and other foods that
may be contaminated with fibrils." Other investigators have reported that
meat derived from sheep and seemingly healthy cattle may represent other
dietary sources of this material, he said.
















People develop diseases for many reasons. "Eating foie gras probably
won't cause a disease in someone who isn't genetically predisposed to it,"
Solomon explained. "More critical is determining what causes these diseases
in the first place and, most important, developing new means of diagnosis
and treatment designed to rid the body of harmful amyloid deposits or
preventing them from occurring or progressing. Indeed, this is the very
focus of the work of my team at the University of Tennessee, and we are all
deeply committed to achieving this goal. I am hopeful that our research
efforts and those of other scientists throughout the world will help those
afflicted with these diseases, which exert such a devastating toll on
patients and family members alike."



The research study was funded through research grants from the National
Institutes of Health, Aslan Foundation, Swedish Research Council and
Torsten and Ragnar Soderberg's Foundations.



Alan Solomon currently is Director, Human Immunology and
Cancer/Alzheimer's Disease and Amyloid-Related Disorders Research Program,
and Professor of Medicine, University of Tennessee Graduate School of
Medicine. He was named American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor
in 1995 and is Scientific Advisor to the International Myeloma Foundation
and the Amyloidosis Research Foundation. He has devoted more than 40 years
to the study, diagnosis, treatment and cure of amyloid-related diseases and
has published more than 250 articles in scientific and medical journals on
this and related topics. He has been the recipient of numerous research
awards from federal and private agencies, and his 41-year grant from the
National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute has just been
extended for another five years, making it one of the longest on record.



The University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine in Knoxville is
part of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, the statewide
academic health system. The school is home to more than 200 teaching
physicians and researchers; more than 175 medical and dental resident
physicians in 12 residency and nine fellowship programs; and more than 180
volunteer faculty physicians and dentists. The school, together with
clinical partner, University Health System Inc., forms the University of
Tennessee Medical Center, the only academic medical center in the area. For
more information about the UT Graduate School of Medicine, visit
gsm.utmck.


University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine

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