Broccoli could selectively target cancer cells
15 Jun 2011
Juan Valverde
Sulforaphane (SFN) is a phytochemical derived from the enzymatic hydrolysis of a glucosinolate. Glucosinolates are a type of phytochemicals commonly found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbages, radish, mustard or rapeseed.
Sulforaphane is of high scientific relevance due to its multiple and remarkable biological active and disease prevention properties (i.e. stomach ulcer , diabetes or lung). For example, sulforaphane has proved to be an effective chemopreventive agent against cancer in several models (cell culture, carcinogen induced and genetic animal cancer model).
A recent paper published in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research by researchers from the Oregon State University shows that SFN would have the ability to target and cause death of cancer cells while not targeting normal cells. This is a very important factor in the determining the safety and clinical relevance for sulforaphane.
Dr. Ho and co-workers worked with prostate cancer and normal cells and they also tried to elucidate how SFN works. The work shows that SFN exerts differential effects on cell proliferation, histone deacetylase enzymes activity and downstream targets in normal and cancer cells.
Histone deacetylases enzymes are a group of enzymes that play an important role in access of DNA and genes expression, including expression of tumour suppressor genes. Sulforaphane seems to act as inhibitor of these types of enzymes that are recently being targeted from pharmaceutical field as a promising area of cancer treatment.
For further details on this work:
Clarke JD, Hsu A, Yu Z, Dashwood RH, Ho E (2011) Differential effects of sulforaphane on histone deacetylases, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in normal prostate cells versus hyperplastic and cancerous prostate cells. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research
