Dietary Phytochemicals In Cancer Prevention And Treatment

The sixth annual research conference of the American Institute for Cancer Research was held August 31 and September 1, 1995, at the Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washing ton, DC. In view of the promising leads in the diet/nutrition and cancer research field, the conference was devoted to "Dietary Phytochemicals in Cancer Prevention and Treatment. " The number of sessions was increased over that in previous conferences in order to accommodate the topics of interest. The conference overview, entitled "Plants and Cancer: Food, Fiber, and Phytochemicals," provided a framework for the following sessions. In addition, the attendees were reminded that for several decades epidemiologists have noted a lower risk of lung, esophageal, stomach, and colon cancer in populations consuming diets high in fruits and vegetables. However, isolation and ingestion of individual protective factors are not the preferred action since the complexity of the food and the matrix in which nutritional factors are embedded are important. The individual sessions then provided more insight as to why eating fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of cancer. The first of these sessions was on "Isothiocyanates" that induce both the Phase I and Phase II enzymes that increase detoxification and conjugation reactions, thus causing more rapid removal of any xenobiotic or carcinogen. Thus, less carcinogen is available for interaction with DNA or other critical cellular macromolecules.

Recent advances have contributed to our understanding of how a plant-based diet confers many health advantages and how substances from plants may be effective in the prevention of specific cancers. The Ninth Annual Research Conference of the American Institute for Cancer Research has focused on the latest developments in several categories of nutrients of wide contemporary interests. The conference sessions included such topics as the effects of soy, green tea, selenium, wine, grapes, and spices in cancer prevention. This conference was held in Washington, D.C. on September 2nd and 3rd, 1999, and was entitled Nutrition and Cancer Prevention: New Insights Into the Roles of Phytochemicals. The discussion program included a session that was devoted to the current status of herbal products in relation to cancer prevention, in recognition of the increasing attention that complementary and alternative medicine has been receiving from the scientific community as well as the general public. A separate presentation addressed the issue of nutritional supplements and cancer prevention.

This book highlights the importance of phytochemicals and mitochondria in cancer prevention and therapy. Recent scientific discoveries have identified that naturally occurring biologically active compounds (i.e. phytochemicals) target multiple steps of tumorigenesis leading to the inhibition or delay in cancer progression. Mitochondria, organelles within a cell, are a critical target for phytochemicals in regulating the initiation, promotion, and progression of cancer. The book is divided into three parts to better communicate the important findings related to phytochemicals and mitochondria in cancer research. The first part describes updates on environmental and genetic factors causing cancer initiation and progression, the role of mitochondria function in regulating the process of tumorigenesis, and the role of mitochondria in regulating cell death such as apoptosis, autophagy, and necroptosis. The second part focuses on the elucidation of key target proteins that could be exploited for cancer prevention, an the role of phytochemicals in cancer prevention, updates on basic research related to phytochemicals action critical for cancer prevention, and updates on translational knowledge on cancer prevention by phytochemicals. The third part provides updates on phytochemicals targeting mitochondria for cancer therapy, an overview of action of phytochemicals on cancer stem cells, updates on the role of microRNA in phytochemicals-based therapy of cancer, and updates on phytochemicals-based translation research on therapy for metastatic cancer.

Chemoprevention of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma with Berries, by Gary D. Stoner and Li-Shu Wang Cancer Prevention by Different Forms of Tocopherols, by Chung S. Yang and Nanjoo Suh Cancer Chemopreventive and Therapeutic Potential of Guggulsterone, by Inas Almazari and Young-Joon Surh Inhibition of UVB-Induced Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer: A Path from Tea to Caffeine to Exercise to Decreased Tissue Fat, by Allan H. Conney, You-Rong Lou, Paul Nghiem, Jamie J. Bernard, George C. Wagner and Yao-Ping Lu Cancer Chemoprevention and Nutri-Epigenetics: State of the Art and Future Challenges, by Clarissa Gerhauser A Perspective on Dietary Phytochemicals and Cancer Chemoprevention: Oxidative Stress, Nrf2, and Epigenomics, by Zheng-Yuan Su, Limin Shu, Tin Oo Khor, Jong Hun Lee, Francisco Fuentes and Ah-Ng Tony Kong Keap1-Nrf2 Signaling: A Target for Cancer Prevention by Sulforaphane, by Thomas W. Kensler, Patricia A. Egner, Abena S. Agyeman, Kala Visvanathan, John D. Groopman, Jian-Guo Chen, Tao-Yang Chen, Jed W. Fahey and Paul Talalay Chemoprotection Against Cancer by Isothiocyanates: A Focus on the Animal Models and the Protective Mechanisms, by Albena T. Dinkova-Kostova Human Cancer Chemoprevention: Hurdles and Challenges, by Vaqar Mustafa Adhami and Hasan Mukhtar Personalizing Lung Cancer Prevention Through a Reverse Migration Strategy, by Kathryn A. Gold, Edward S. Kim, Ignacio I. Wistuba and Waun K. Hong Natural-Agent Mechanisms and Early-Phase Clinical Development, by Janet L. Wang, Kathryn A. Gold and Scott M. Lippman

Cancer is one of the leading killers in the world and the incidence is increasing, but most cancer patients and cancer survivors suffer much from the disease and its conventional treatments’ side effects. In the past, clinical data showed that some complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) possessed anticancer abilities, but some clinicians and scientists have queried about the scientific validity of CAM due to the lack of scientific evidence. There is great demand in the knowledge gap to explore the scientific and evidence-based knowledge of CAM in the anticancer field. With this aim, a book series is needed to structurally deliver the knowledge to readers. Throughout the past few years, the cancer chemopreventive potencies and treatment effects of a number of natural dietary agents present in different food sources have been evaluated by various experiments. Some of them have progressed to early clinical trials. This volume is a specialized book presenting the research evidence relevant to the use of specific diet therapy in cancer chemoprevention and treatment. We begin with lessons learned from dietary resveratrol as an effective agent with anticancer properties against malignancies, followed examples of flavonoids from fruits and vegetables in the prevention and treatment of cancer. Evidence for the beneficial influence of diet enriched with flax seed oil and green tea on cancer will be reviewed. Soy food intake may enhance the effects on anticancer treatment for breast cancer, whereas lycopene-rich foods may possess chemopreventive efficacy. There are also discussions on the contribution of the cancer preventive effects of the antioxidant-rich foods and Mediterranean diet. In addition, the modulation of proteasome pathways by nutraceuticals is highlighted. Finally, we close the book with a discussion on the attenuation of cell survival signaling by bioactive phytochemicals in the prevention and therapy cancer.

This book presents comprehensive coverage on the importance of good nutrition in the treatment and management of obesity, cancer and diabetes. Naturally occurring bioactive compounds are ubiquitous in most dietary plants available to humans and provide opportunities for the management of diseases. The text provides information about the major causes of these diseases and their association with nutrition. The text also covers the role of dietary phytochemicals in drug development and their pathways. Later chapters emphasize novel bioactive compounds as anti-diabetic, anti-cancer and anti-obesity agents and describe their mechanisms to regulate cell metabolism. Written by global team of experts, Dietary Phytochemicals: A Source of Novel Bioactive Compounds for the Treatment of Obesity, Cancer and Diabetes describes the potentials of novel phytochemicals, their sources, and underlying mechanism of action. The chapters were drawn systematically and incorporated sequentially to facilitate proper understanding. This book is intended for nutritionists, physicians, medicinal chemists, drug developers in research and development, postgraduate students and scientists in area of nutrition and life sciences.

Increasing scientific evidence suggests that the majority of diseases including cancer are driven by oxidative stress and inflammation, attributed to environmental factors. These factors either drive genetic mutations or epigenetically modify expression of key regulatory genes. These changes can occur as early as gestational fetal development, and

"Bio-Farms for Nutraceuticals" can be said to have been born of the NUTRA-SNACKS project within the Sixth Framework Programme Priority on Food Quality and Safety. One objective of NUTRA -SNACK S was to improve the nutritional and eating properties of ready-to-eat products and semi-prepared foodstuffs through better monitoring of the quality and safety of raw materials and the development of innovative processes along the production chain. Another main objective of the project was the production of ready-to-eat snacks with high nutraceutic activity. Seven research institutes and three companies in six European countries were involved in this effort. The co-operation resulted in the production of food having a high content of natural metabolites with the following beneficial health effects: anticancer, antilipidemic, anticholesterol, antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antihypertensive, anti-inflamatory and antioxidant activities.