Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Unit, Department of Research, Advanced Diagnostic and Technological Innovation, IRCCS Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy.
Front Immunol. 2019 Apr 11;10:729. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.00729. eCollection 2019.
Polyphenolic compounds, widely present in fruits, vegetables, and cereals, have potential benefits for human health and are protective agents against the development of chronic/degenerative diseases including cancer. More recently these bioactive molecules have been gaining great interest as anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory agents, mainly in neoplasia where the pro-inflammatory context might promote carcinogenesis. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is considered a major public healthy issue, a leading cause of cancer mortality and morbidity worldwide. Epidemiological, pre-clinical and clinical investigations have consistently highlighted important relationships between large bowel inflammation, gut microbiota (GM), and colon carcinogenesis. Many experimental studies and clinical evidence suggest that polyphenols have a relevant role in CRC chemoprevention, exhibit cytotoxic capability vs. CRC cells and induce increased sensitization to chemo/radiotherapies. These effects are most likely related to the immunomodulatory properties of polyphenols able to modulate cytokine and chemokine production and activation of immune cells. In this review we summarize recent advancements on immunomodulatory activities of polyphenols and their ability to counteract the inflammatory tumor microenvironment. We focus on potential role of natural polyphenols in increasing the cell sensitivity to colon cancer therapies, highlighting the polyphenol-based combined treatments as innovative immunomodulatory strategies to inhibit the growth of CRC.
多酚化合物广泛存在于水果、蔬菜和谷物中，对人类健康具有潜在益处，是预防癌症等慢性/退行性疾病的保护剂。最近，这些生物活性分子作为抗炎和免疫调节剂引起了极大的关注，主要是在肿瘤中，炎症环境可能促进癌发生。结直肠癌（CRC）被认为是一个主要的公共健康问题，是全球癌症死亡和发病率的主要原因。流行病学、临床前和临床研究一致强调了大肠炎症、肠道微生物群（GM）和结肠癌发生之间的重要关系。许多实验研究和临床证据表明，多酚类化合物在 CRC 化学预防中具有重要作用，对 CRC 细胞具有细胞毒性作用，并增加对化疗/放疗的敏感性。这些作用可能与多酚的免疫调节特性有关，多酚能够调节细胞因子和趋化因子的产生以及免疫细胞的激活。在这篇综述中，我们总结了多酚的免疫调节活性及其对抗炎症肿瘤微环境的能力的最新进展。我们重点介绍了天然多酚在增加结肠癌细胞对癌症治疗的敏感性方面的潜在作用，强调了基于多酚的联合治疗作为抑制 CRC 生长的创新性免疫调节策略。
