The Effect of Dietary Constituents on Regulation of Epigenetic Changes in Cancer

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The term “epigenetic” refers to all non-heritable and reversible changes in the expression of a gene that does not cause a change in the DNA sequence. The most important epigenetic mechanisms associated with gene expression include DNA methylation, histone modifications, and suppression of gene expression with RNA. Considering the reversibility of epigenetic changes, it seems that this feature can be influenced by dietary constituents and thus, we can prevent the spread of certain cancers by controlling the diet. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of food on the prevention of common cancers and the mechanisms involved in cellular activities based on recent studies and the compilation of their results. METHODS: In this review article, we searched Pubmed and Elsevier databases using certain keywords such as “epigenetics”, “cancer” and “nutrition” and articles related to the effects of epigenetics on cancer and dietary constituents were evaluated. FINDINGS: Of 439 studies found in the search engines between 1997 and 2016, 64 articles were selected and their results indicated that many of the active components in the diet will inhibit the incidence of cancer through DNA methylation mechanisms, histone modifications, and miRNA. CONCLUSION: The anticancer effect of the active compounds in the diet on specific epigenetic changes can be used as a special and unidentified mechanism for preventing cancer

Keywords

• Epigenetic
• Cancer
• Nutrition