A unique feature of bioactive food ingredients is their broad antioxidant function. Antioxidants having a wide spectrum of chemical structure and activity beyond basic nutrition; display different health benefits by the prevention and progression of chronic diseases. Functional food components are capable of enhancing the natural antioxidant defense system by scavenging reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, protecting and repairing DNA damage, as well as modulating the signal transduction pathways and gene expression. Major pathways affected by bioactive food ingredients include the pro-inflammatory pathways regulated by nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), as well as those associated with cytokines and chemokines. The present review summarizes the importance of plant bioactives and their roles in the regulation of inflammatory pathways. Bioactives influence several physiological processes such as gene expression, cell cycle regulation, cell proliferation, cell migration, etc., resulting in cancer prevention. Cancer initiation is associated with changes in metabolic pathways such as glucose metabolism, and the effect of bioactives in normalizing this process has been provided. Initiation and progression of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) which increase the chances of developing of colorectal cancers can be downregulated by plant bioactives. Several aspects of the potential roles of microRNAs and epigenetic modifications in the development of cancers have also been presented.

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Nucleolar assembly begins at the early G1 phase of the cell cycle and is a hub of ribosomal DNA transcription and rRNA biosynthesis. The newlyformed rRNAs together with ribosomal proteins (RPs) constitute the building block of the ribosomal machinery. Although RPs play a major role in protein biosynthesis, their own regulation and expression is rather poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the regulation of RP genes RPS27a, RPS24, RPS6, RPL9 and RPL4 in synchronized mammalian cell culture. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis indicated their expression during the mid to late G1 phase, whereas the rRNA genes were expressed during the early G1 phase of the cell cycle. The promoter reporter analysis of the RPS27a gene revealed that it could be synergistically stimulated by the transcription factors specificity protein 1 (Sp1) and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB). However, E2F transcription factor 1 (E2F1) appeared to negatively regulate gene expression. Chromatin immunoprecipitation studies confirmed the promoter occupancy of Sp1, CREB and E2F1. Although Sp1 and CREB binding enhanced the promoter occupancy of histone acetyltransferases PCAF, p300 and CREB binding protein, E2F1 facilitated the recruitment of histone deacetylases. Both acetylation (histone H4 pan-acetyl, histone H3 acetyl Lys 14) and methylation (histone H3 trimethyl Lys 9) marks were observed in the RPS27a promoter region, suggesting their important regulatory role in gene expression. Because the promoter regions of most RP genes are well conserved, we propose that their orchestrated regulation and synthesis during the cell cycle facilitates ribosome biogenesis.