Caffeic acid is a bioactive compound found in a variety of plants including vegetables, fruits, herbs, and drinks. It belongs to the huge group of chemicals called polyphenols and is a major representative of the polyphenol subgroup of hydroxycinnamic acids. In foods, caffeic acid occurs mostly as a quinic acid ester called chlorogenic acid. Caffeic acid, like other polyphenols, is believed to exhibit many health benefits associated with their antioxidant properties, including the prevention of inflammation, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and diabetes. Nowadays, the use of naturally occurring bioactive substances, including caffeic acid, is becoming a very common phenomenon. Thus, information about their functions and properties is very important.Keywords: caffeic acid, polyphenols, bioactive compound, oxidative stress

SUMMARYCancer chemoprevention is defined as the use of natural, synthetic or biological chemical agents to reverse, suppress or prevent carcinogenic progression of invasive cancer. Carcinogenesis is a complex multi-step process; therefore, it is necessary to attack cell proliferation, stimulate apoptosis and inhibit angiogenesis. There have been more than 60 randomised trials using chemopreventive potential agents.The success of several recent clinical trials in preventing cancer in high-risk populations suggests that chemoprevention is a rational and appealing strategy. In this review, we describe the conceptual basis for the chemoprevention of cancer, proven concepts of efficiency and current trends in the use of chemopreventive agents according to place and mechanism of action. We classify chemopreventive substances into seven groups based on their chemical structure and their effects, namely, deltanoids (paracalcitriol), retinoids (13-cis retinoic acid), non-steroidal anti-rheumatics (Deguelin), antiestrogens (genistein), polyphenols (curcumin), sulphur containing compounds (sulforaphane) and terpenes (lycopene). Chemoprevention is one of several promising strategies for reducing the incidence of malignant tumours or helping to prolong the time before recurrence.

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Alcohol is a psychoactive substance that is widely used and, unfortunately, often abused. In addition to acute effects such as intoxication, it may cause many chronic pathological conditions. Some of the effects are very well described and explained, but there are still gaps in the explanation of empirically co-founded dysfunction in many alcohol-related conditions. This work focuses on reviewing actual knowledge about the toxic effects of ethanol and its degradation products.

Background and objectives: Melanin, which has a confirmed role in melanoma cell behaviour, is formed in the process of melanogenesis and is synthesized from tryptophan, L-tyrosine and their metabolites. All these metabolites are easily detectable by chromatography in urine. Materials and Methods: Urine samples of 133 individuals (82 malignant melanoma patients and 51 healthy controls) were analysed by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The diagnosis of malignant melanoma was confirmed histologically. Results: Chromatograms of melanoma patients showed increased levels of 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid, vanilmandelic acid, homovanilic acid, tryptophan, 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid, and indoxyl sulphate compared to healthy controls. Concentration of indoxyl sulphate, homovanilic acid and tryptophan were significantly increased even in the low clinical stage 0 of the disease (indoxyl sulphate, homovanilic acid and tryptophan in patients with clinical stage 0 vs. controls expressed as medium/ interquartile range in µmol/mmol creatinine: 28.37/15.30 vs. 5.00/6.91; 47.97/33.08 vs. 7.33/21.25; and 16.38/15.98 vs. 3.46/6.22, respectively). Conclusions: HPLC detection of metabolites of L-tyrosine and tryptophan in the urine of melanoma patients may play a significant role in diagnostics as well as a therapeutic strategy of melanoma cancer.

Ovarian cancer is the type of cancer with the highest mortality rate among gynaecologic malignancies. Due to lack of screening tools, this disease is mainly diagnosed at a progressed stage, when it is too late to adequate therapy. Despite many attempts, enough sensitive and specific biomarker was not still uncovered. Fluorescence spectroscopy has proven to be a useful diagnostic tool with high efficiency. Fluorescence detection has three major advantages over other light-based investigation methods: high sensitivity, high speed, and reliability. Biological materials consist of a number of intrinsic fluorescent compounds -autofluorophores, which are associated with cardinal metabolic pathways. It is well known, that cancerous tissue metabolism is altered compared to healthy one, what influence also intrinsic fluorophores composition of bodily fluids. Urine is one of the biological fluids that could be obtained most easily and displays a blue - green fluorescence that can change in case of pathological process. Analysis of urine autofluorescence is non invasive and simple technique. Using fluorescent spectroscopy, ovarian cancer patients and healthy control group were discerned with high significance, so we predict that fluorescence analysis of urine could be a potential means of ovarian cancer screening.

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Urine autofluorescence at 295 nm is significantly higher in patients with malignant melanoma at each clinical stage compared to the healthy group. The largest difference is in the early-stages and without metastases. With increasing stage, the autofluorescence at 295 nm decreases. There is also a significant negative correlation between autofluorescence and Clark classification. Based on our results, it is assumed that the way malignant melanoma grows also affects urinary autofluorescence.