The Epigenetic Impact of Cruciferous Vegetables on Cancer Prevention - PubMed (original) (raw)

The Epigenetic Impact of Cruciferous Vegetables on Cancer Prevention

Kendra J Royston et al. Curr Pharmacol Rep. 2015.

Abstract

The answer to chemoprevention has perhaps been available to the general public since the dawn of time. The epigenetic diet is of extreme interest, for research suggests that cruciferous vegetables are not only an important source of nutrients, but perhaps a key to eliminating cancer as life threatening disease. Cruciferous vegetables such as kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli sprouts contain chemical components, such as sulforaphane (SFN) and indole-3-carbinol (I3C), which have been revealed to be regulators of microRNAs (miRNAs) and inhibitors of histone deacetylases (HDACs) and DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs). The mis-regulation and overexpression of these genes are responsible for the uncontrolled cellular proliferation and viability of various types of cancer cells. The field of epigenetics and its incorporation into modern medicinal investigation is an exponentially growing field of interest and it is becoming increasingly apparent that the incorporation of an epigenetic diet may in fact be the key to chemoprevention.

Keywords: DNMT; HDAC; apoptosis; broccoli; cabbage; cancer; chemo-preventive diet; cruciferous; epigenetics; food; glucosinolates; heredity; indole-3-carbinol; indoles; isothiocyanates; medicine; miRNA; nutrients; prevention; sulforaphane; vegetables.

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Conflict of interest statement

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Conflict of Interest

Kendra J. Royston and Trygve O. Tollefsbol declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1. Steps to Anti-Carcinogen Compounds

This flow chart is a simple depiction of how compounds such as SFN and I3C are formed. Once the myrosinase enzyme is released via mastication or bacterial fermentation of cruciferous vegetables, glucosinolates are formed which give rise to isothiocyanates, indoles and other compounds.

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