Cancer chemoprevention by traditional chinese herbal medicine and dietary phytochemicals: targeting nrf2-mediated oxidative stress/anti-inflammatory responses, epigenetics, and cancer stem cells.
Excessive oxidative stress induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RNS), and reactive metabolites of carcinogens alters cellular homeostasis, leading to genetic/epigenetic changes, genomic instability, neoplastic transformation, and cancer initiation/progression. As a protective mechanism against oxidative stress, antioxidant/detoxifying enzymes reduce these reactive species and protect normal cells from endo-/exogenous oxidative damage. The transcription factor nuclear factor-erythroid 2 p45 (NF-E2)-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a master regulator of the antioxidative stress response, plays a critical role in the expression of many cytoprotective enzymes, including
quinine oxidoreductase (NQO1), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT), and glutathione S-transferase (GST). Recent studies demonstrated that many dietary phytochemicals derived from various vegetables, fruits, spices, and herbal medicines induce Nrf2-mediated antioxidant/detoxifying enzymes, restore aberrant epigenetic alterations, and eliminate cancer stem cells (CSCs). The Nrf2-mediated antioxidant response prevents many age-related diseases, including cancer. Owing to their fundamental contribution to carcinogenesis, epigenetic modifications and CSCs are novel targets of dietary phytochemicals and traditional Chinese herbal medicine (TCHM). In this review, we summarize cancer chemoprevention by dietary phytochemicals, including TCHM, which have great potential as a safer and more effective strategy for preventing cancer.
Center for Cancer Prevention Research, Department of Pharmaceutics, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 160 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Jong
J
Hun Lee
Center for Cancer Prevention Research, Department of Pharmaceutics, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 160 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Limin
L
Shu
Center for Cancer Prevention Research, Department of Pharmaceutics, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 160 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA ; Department of Desert Agriculture and Biotechnology, Arturo Prat University, PO box 121, Iquique, Chile.
Francisco
F
Fuentes
Center for Cancer Prevention Research, Department of Pharmaceutics, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 160 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Zheng-Yuan
ZY
Su
Center for Cancer Prevention Research, Department of Pharmaceutics, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 160 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Ah-Ng
AN
Tony Kong
Cancer chemoprevention; Cancer stem cells; Epigenetics; Nrf2; Phytochemicals; Traditional Chinese herbal medicine