Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1300 University Boulevard, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA.
Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging, University of Alabama Birmingham, 1530 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2018 Sep;62(18):e1700913. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.201700913. Epub 2018 May 28.
Cancer is the second leading cause of mortalities in the United States, only exceeded by heart disease. Current cancer treatments include chemotherapy, surgery, and/or radiation. Due to the often harsh effects of current cancer therapies, investigators are focusing their efforts on cancer prevention mediated by dietary phytochemicals. Since the discovery that cancer can be initiated by and progressed through both genetic and epigenetic pathways, there has been a significant surge in studies on epigenetic effects mediated by nutritive compounds. Isothiocyanates, naturally occurring molecules found in cruciferous vegetables, have been documented to exhibit many anticarcinogenic activities. Although isothiocyanates have been extensively documented as key players in epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation and histone modifications, their effects on non-coding RNAs is understudied. Non-coding RNAs are molecules that target mRNA production and repress protein translation and are known to be dysregulated in various human malignancies. Studies have used non-coding RNAs as novel targets for exploration in cancer therapy. This review focuses on the exploration of isothiocyanates and their effect on non-coding RNAs in cancer prevention and therapy.
癌症是美国第二大致死原因，仅次于心脏病。目前的癌症治疗包括化疗、手术和/或放疗。由于当前癌症疗法的副作用往往很严重，研究人员正在专注于通过饮食植物化学物质来预防癌症。自发现癌症可以通过遗传和表观遗传途径引发和进展以来，关于营养化合物介导的表观遗传效应的研究显著增加。异硫氰酸盐是十字花科蔬菜中天然存在的分子，已被证明具有许多抗癌活性。尽管异硫氰酸盐已被广泛证明是 DNA 甲基化和组蛋白修饰等表观遗传过程中的关键因素，但它们对非编码 RNA 的影响仍研究不足。非编码 RNA 是靶向 mRNA 产生并抑制蛋白质翻译的分子，已知在各种人类恶性肿瘤中失调。研究已将非编码 RNA 用作癌症治疗中探索的新型靶标。本文综述了异硫氰酸盐及其在癌症预防和治疗中对非编码 RNA 的作用。
