Dietary phytochemicals as epigenetic modifiers in cancer: Promise and challenges

Abstract

The influence of diet and environment on human health has been known since ages. Plant-derived natural bioactive compounds (phytochemicals) have acquired an important role in human diet as potent antioxidants and cancer chemopreventive agents. In past few decades, the role of epigenetic alterations such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNAs in the regulation of mammalian genome have been comprehensively addressed. Although the effects of dietary phytochemicals on gene expression and signaling pathways have been widely studied in cancer, the impact of these dietary compounds on mammalian epigenome is rapidly emerging. The present review outlines the role of different epigenetic mechanisms in the regulation and maintenance of mammalian genome and focuses on the role of dietary phytochemicals as epigenetic modifiers in cancer. Above all, the review focuses on summarizing the progress made thus far in cancer chemoprevention with dietary phytochemicals, the heightened interest and challenges in the future.

Morusin induces apoptosis by regulating expression of Bax and Survivin in human breast cancer cells

“…However, the overall treatment efficiency for malignant and metastatic breast cancer remains stagnant. Recent studies have identified effective phytochemicals for the treatment of cancer, including advanced stage breast cancer (26)(27)(28). Therefore, the potential of morusin as a therapeutic agent for breast cancer was evaluated in the present study.…”

Programmed for sex: Nutrition–reproduction relationships from an inter-generational perspective

“…Probably many of us will have been told by our mothers 577 when a child that 'you are what you eat', which translated into a scientifically more 578 accurate description is that a balanced, varied diet is widely considered as being the most 579 healthy, as opposed to a fast-food Western diet that is over-rich in calories and deficient in 580 fruit and green vegetables -and of course, it is the latter diet that is associated with obesity. 581 A wide range of compounds derived from plants are capable of altering DNA methylation 582 or causing histone changes (Box 2), albeit mainly in a cancer setting (Shankar et al 2016, 583 Tran et al 2017, Zam & Khadour 2017. The names of some of these compounds will be 584 familiar to us (e.g.…”

“…The names of some of these compounds will be 584 familiar to us (e.g. circumin, lycopene, quercitin, resveratrol, genistein), but they are mainly 585 classed as phytochemicals and antioxidants and are present in a range of fruit and green 586 vegetables (Shankar et al 2016). It is beyond the scope of this article to consider the 587 epigenetic regulatory properties of these compounds, but it is emphasized that (a) exposure 588 to such compounds would have been common in our evolutionary past, and (b) our 589 exposure in the modern world will vary considerably depending on whether we eat a 590 balanced diet or an unbalanced/Western/fast-food diet (Box 2).…”

Cancer chemoprevention with natural agents: Where we are now?

“…Chemoprevention is defined as a means of cancer control in which the occurrence of clinical cancer can be prevented, slowed or reversed by the administration of one or more synthetic or naturally occurring biologically active compounds [1][2][3][4][5] . In contrast to cancer treatment, the goal of chemoprevention is to reduce the incidence of clinical cancer.…”

“…The concept of chemoprevention relies upon the design and testing of new agents that are able to act on specific molecular and cellular targets [3][4][5][6][7] . These targets include genes and/or gene products that regulate the cell cycle, growth, metastasis, angiogenesis, tumor suppression, apoptosis, DNA methylation, cellular stress and immune responses [8] .…”