Abstract

Epigenetics, the study of heritable changes in gene expression without modifying the nucleotide sequence, is among the most important topics in medicinal chemistry and cancer prevention and therapy. Among those changes, DNA methylation and histone modification have been shown to be associated with various types of cancers in a number of ways, many of which are regulated by dietary components that are mostly found in plants. Although mechanisms of nutrient components affecting histone acetylation/deacetylation in cancer are widely studied, how those natural compounds affect cancer through other histone modifications, such as methylation, phosphorylation and ubiquitylation, is rarely reviewed. Thus, this review article discusses impacts on histone acetylation as well as other histone modifications by nutrient components, such as genistein, resveratrol, curcumin, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), 3,3’-diindolylmethane (DIM), diallyl disulfide, garcinol, procyanidin B3, quercetin, sulforaphane and other isothiocyanates that have been recently reported in vivo as well as in various types of cancer cell lines.

Keywords: Cancer, dietary components, epigenetics, gene expression, histone modifications, phytochemicals.