Growing evidence indicates that cancer incidence across the world is not similar,and it is more prevalent in certain populations than others,suggesting the critical role for dietary and lifestyle factors.For instance ...Growing evidence indicates that cancer incidence across the world is not similar,and it is more prevalent in certain populations than others,suggesting the critical role for dietary and lifestyle factors.For instance cancer incidence among people from the Indian subcontinent,where most spices are consumed,is much lower than that in the Western World.Spices have been consumed for centuries for a variety of purposes e.g.as flavoring agents,colorants,and preservatives.However,there is increasing evidence for the importance of plant-based foods in regular diet to lowering the risk of most chronic diseases,so spices are now emerging as more than just flavor aids,but as agents that can not only prevent but may even treat disease.Besides suppressing inflammatory pathways,spice-derived nutraceuticals can suppress survival,proliferation,invasion,and angiogenesis of tumor cells.Increasing evidence indicates that genetic alterations are relatively rare,and epigenetic changes(DNA methylation,histone modifications and expression of noncoding RNAs)plays a bigger role in human cancer,and can be easily influenced by environmental,lifestyle and dietary factors,and some estimates suggest that over two-thirds of the cancer incidence can be accounted for by the environmental and dietary factors alone.Among all these factors,diet is probably the single most important factor which may influence carcinogenesis more comprehensively,because diet is readily modifiable and have the potential to modulate multiple epigenetic processes.Polyphenols in dietary botanicals represent a versatile group of phytochemicals with many potentially beneficial activities in terms of disease prevention.Dietary polyphenols(bioflavanoids)have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that might explain their chemopreventive effects.However,the actual therapeutic potential of these compounds may not have been completely realized due to lack of understanding on the effects of these agents on epigenetic modifications.Recent,but limited evidence indicates that some of the polyphenols,including curcumin(from turmeric),genestein(from soy),EGCG(from green tea),diallyl disulfide(from garlic),sulforaphane(from broccoli)and resveratrol(from grapes)may induce epigenetic changes in various cancer cell lines.This presentation will describe some of the current scientific evidence for the role of epigenetic alterations induced by curcumin and boswellia,in support of their anti-cancer activities,which provides a strong scientific foundation for preclinical and human clinical intervention studies in future.展开更多
文摘Growing evidence indicates that cancer incidence across the world is not similar,and it is more prevalent in certain populations than others,suggesting the critical role for dietary and lifestyle factors.For instance cancer incidence among people from the Indian subcontinent,where most spices are consumed,is much lower than that in the Western World.Spices have been consumed for centuries for a variety of purposes e.g.as flavoring agents,colorants,and preservatives.However,there is increasing evidence for the importance of plant-based foods in regular diet to lowering the risk of most chronic diseases,so spices are now emerging as more than just flavor aids,but as agents that can not only prevent but may even treat disease.Besides suppressing inflammatory pathways,spice-derived nutraceuticals can suppress survival,proliferation,invasion,and angiogenesis of tumor cells.Increasing evidence indicates that genetic alterations are relatively rare,and epigenetic changes(DNA methylation,histone modifications and expression of noncoding RNAs)plays a bigger role in human cancer,and can be easily influenced by environmental,lifestyle and dietary factors,and some estimates suggest that over two-thirds of the cancer incidence can be accounted for by the environmental and dietary factors alone.Among all these factors,diet is probably the single most important factor which may influence carcinogenesis more comprehensively,because diet is readily modifiable and have the potential to modulate multiple epigenetic processes.Polyphenols in dietary botanicals represent a versatile group of phytochemicals with many potentially beneficial activities in terms of disease prevention.Dietary polyphenols(bioflavanoids)have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that might explain their chemopreventive effects.However,the actual therapeutic potential of these compounds may not have been completely realized due to lack of understanding on the effects of these agents on epigenetic modifications.Recent,but limited evidence indicates that some of the polyphenols,including curcumin(from turmeric),genestein(from soy),EGCG(from green tea),diallyl disulfide(from garlic),sulforaphane(from broccoli)and resveratrol(from grapes)may induce epigenetic changes in various cancer cell lines.This presentation will describe some of the current scientific evidence for the role of epigenetic alterations induced by curcumin and boswellia,in support of their anti-cancer activities,which provides a strong scientific foundation for preclinical and human clinical intervention studies in future.
