Sulforaphane as an anticancer molecule: mechanisms of action, synergistic effects, enhancement of drug safety, and delivery systems

The Potential of Phytochemicals in Oral Cancer Prevention and Therapy: A Review of the Evidence

“…Over 10,000 phytochemicals have been identified worldwide [ 144 , 145 ]. Furthermore, genistein (from soybeans and soy products) [ 146 , 147 , 148 ], lycopene (such as from tomatoes, red carrots, watermelons, grapefruits, and papayas) [ 149 , 150 , 151 ], brassinin (from cruciferous vegetables) [ 152 , 153 , 154 ], sulforaphane (from asparagus) [ 155 , 156 , 157 ], indole-3-carbinol (from broccoli) [ 158 , 159 , 160 ], and resveratrol (from grapes, peanuts, peanut butter, red wines) [ 161 , 162 , 163 , 164 , 165 ] are being studied in preclinical or clinical trials for cancer chemoprevention.…”

Perspective on dietary isothiocyanates in the prevention, development and treatment of cancer

“…This class of compounds has been investigated for anti-carcinogenic, chemoprotectant, chemopreventive, and anti-cancer activities, in vitro and in animal models, over the past several decades. A number of excellent detailed reviews and perspectives have been published [25][26][27][28][29][30] . Key members of the ITC family found in the diet, SFN, phenethylisothiocyanate (PEITC), and benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), show antitumor efficacy, perhaps selectively, against a variety of different cancers [31] and thus have received the greatest attention.…”

“…The known basic structured compound of the ITC family, SFN, derived through digestion or other means, has been well studied and demonstrated by many groups to possess chemopreventive and ant-tumor activities [25,29,[32][33][34][35][36] . The association with cancer chemoprevention has also been established in animal models and minimally yet in humans [27] .…”

Nrf2 paradox: Can cancer patients eat broccoli?

“…Such protective effects have been largely attributed to isothiocyanates including sulforaphane (James et al, 2012;Juge, Mithen, & Traka, 2007;Leone et al, 2017). Several clinical trials have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of sulforaphane for chemoprevention, most of which have investigated bioavailability, safety, and tolerance in healthy subjects (Ferreira et al, 2018;Kamal, Akter, Lin, & Nazzal, 2020;Leone et al, 2017;Shapiro et al, 2006). The results of phase-1 clinical tri- (Kensler et al, 2005).…”

“…The primary mechanism is thought to be Nrf2-mediated induction of carcinogen detoxifying/antioxidant enzymes that stimulate neutralization/removal of carcinogens and their reactive metabolites or potentiate the physiologic defense against oxidative DNA damage(Houghton, Fassett, & Coombes, 2016;James et al, 2012;Russo et al, 2018;Yang, L., Palliyaguru, D. L., & Kensler, 2016). However, other mechanisms have been identified, and the list is expanding to the level covering almost all processes of multistage carcinogenesis(Ferreira et al, 2018;Houghton, 2019;Juge, Mithen, & Traka, 2007;Kamal, M., Akter, S., Lin, C.-N., & Nazzal, 2020;Leone et al, 2017). Besides its effects on the signal transduction mediated by oncogens or tumor suppressor genes, epigenetic regulation is also of importance in cancer chemoprevention with sulforaphane(Atwell et al, 2015;Tortorella, Royce, Licciardi, & Karagiannis, 2015).…”