School of Medical Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India.
Eur J Cancer Prev. 2012 Mar;21(2):205-15. doi: 10.1097/CEJ.0b013e32834a7f0c.
Carcinogenesis is a multistep process exhibiting deregulation in multiple cellular signaling pathways. Therefore, specific agent based treatments that target only one pathway usually fail in cancer therapy. The combination treatments using chemotherapeutic agents with distinct molecular mechanisms are considered more promising for higher efficacy; however, using multiple agents contributes to added toxicity. However, the in-vitro and in-vivo studies in the last few decades have demonstrated that some phytochemicals derived from 'natural products' such as fruits, vegetables and certain spices, referred to as chemopreventive agents, including capsaicin, trans-anethole, thymoquinone, diosgenin, allicin, can not only reduce the risk of acquiring specific cancer but also have been shown to suppress cancer cell proliferation, inhibit growth factor signaling pathways, induce apoptosis, inhibit nuclear factor-κB, AP-1, Akt, MAPK, Wnt, Notch, p53, AR, ER, and JAK-STAT, etc., activation pathways, inhibit angiogenesis, suppress the expression of antiapoptotic proteins, and inhibit cyclooxygenase-2. This study describes the above active components of some of the major spices, their mechanisms of action and their potential in prevention of various cancers.
致癌作用是一个多步骤的过程，表现出多个细胞信号通路的失调。因此，专门针对单一通路的特定药剂治疗通常在癌症治疗中失败。使用具有不同分子机制的化疗药物的联合治疗被认为具有更高的疗效，但是，使用多种药物会导致毒性增加。然而，过去几十年的体外和体内研究表明，一些来源于“天然产物”的植物化学物质，如水果、蔬菜和某些香料中的化学预防剂，包括辣椒素、反式茴香脑、姜黄素、薯蓣皂苷元、大蒜素，可以降低获得特定癌症的风险，并且还显示出抑制癌细胞增殖、抑制生长因子信号通路、诱导细胞凋亡、抑制核因子-κB、AP-1、Akt、MAPK、Wnt、Notch、p53、AR、ER 和 JAK-STAT 等激活通路、抑制血管生成、抑制抗凋亡蛋白的表达以及抑制环氧化酶-2。本研究描述了一些主要香料的上述活性成分、它们的作用机制以及它们在预防各种癌症方面的潜力。
