The research program is focused on studying the molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis and designing strategies and agents for the prevention of cancer.  Specific projects involve: 1) characterizing the molecular alterations at different stages of esophageal cancer development in animal models and human tissues; 2) studying inflammation, carcinogenesis, and cancer prevention in animal models for esophageal adenocarcinoma and ulcerative colitis-associated colon carcinogenesis; 3) studying the cancer preventive activity of tea, curcumin, genistein, and other dietary constituents, and combinations thereof with synthetic compounds in animal models for lung, oral, esophageal, intestinal, and colon cancers.  The molecular mechanisms of action as well as the metabolism and bioavailability of these compounds are being studied in cell lines, animal models, and humans.

	Piperine Enhances the Bioavailability of the Tea Polyphenol (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate in Mice. Lambert JD, Hong J, Kim DH, Mishin VM, Yang CS. J Nutr. 2004 Aug;134(8):1948-52.
	The pathways and molecular mechanisms regulating Nrf2 activation in response to chemical stress. Nguyen T, Yang CS, Pickett CB. Free Radic Biol Med. 2004 Aug 15;37(4):433-41.
	Esophagin and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) are biomarkers of human esophageal neoplastic progression. Kimos MC, Wang S, Borkowski A, Yang GY, Yang CS, Perry K, Olaru A, Deacu E, Sterian A, Cottrell J, Papadimitriou J, Sisodia L, Selaru FM, Mori Y, Xu Y, Yin J, Abraham JM, Meltzer SJ. Int J Cancer. 2004 Sep 1;111(3):415-7.
	Inhibition of lung carcinogenesis and effects on angiogenesis and apoptosis in A/J mice by oral administration of green tea. Liao J, Yang GY, Park ES, Meng X, Sun Y, Jia D, Seril DN, Yang CS. Nutr Cancer. 2004;48(1):44-53.