The Anticarcinogenic Properties of Brassica Vegetables

Health reflects the ability of an organism to adapt to stress. Stresses—metabolic, proteotoxic, mitotic, oxidative, and DNA damage—not only contribute to the etiology of cancer and other chronic degenerative diseases but are also hallmarks of the cancer phenotype. Activation of the Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (KEAP1)-NF-E2-related factor 2 (NRF2)-signaling pathway is an adaptive response to environmental and endogenous stresses. It renders animals resistant to chemical carcinogenesis and other forms of toxicity. In contrast, disruption of the pathway exacerbates the outcomes. The pathway can be induced by thiol-reactive small molecules that demonstrate protective efficacy in preclinical chemoprevention models and clinical trials. However, mutations and epigenetic modifications affecting the regulation and fate of NRF2 can lead to constitutive dominant hyperactivation of signaling that preserves rather than attenuates cancer phenotypes by providing selective resistance to stresses.