Authors: Ortuno, A.; Benavente-Garcia, O.; Castillo, J.; Alcaraz, M.; Vicente, V.; Del Rio, J. A.

Source: Current Cancer Drug Targets, Volume 7, Number 8, December 2007 , pp. 795-809(15)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

Abstract:

Attempts to control cancer involve a variety of means, including the use of suppressing, blocking and transforming agents. Suppressing agents prevent the formation of new cancers from pro-carcinogens, blocking agents prevent carcinogenic compounds from reaching critical initiation sites, while transformation agents act to facilitate the metabolism of carcinogenic components into less toxic materials or to prevent their biological actions. Flavonoids can act as all three types of agent.

Epidemiological and animal studies suggest that flavonoids have a protective effect against cardiovascular diseases and some types of cancer. Although flavonoids have been studied for about 50 years, the cellular mechanisms involved in their biological action are still not completely understood. In recent years, experimental studies have provided growing evidence supporting the beneficial action of flavonoids on multiple cancer-related biological pathways (carcinogen bio-activation, cell-signaling, cell cycle regulation, angiogenesis and inflammation).

Within the last decade, reports on flavonoid activity have largely associated with enzyme inhibition and anti-proliferative activity. Many of these studies have pointed to a structural-functional relationship, in that the antioxidant, enzyme-inhibition or antiproliferative activities of flavonoids are dependent on particular structural motifs. Our own studies have shown that structural factors would explain the antioxidant, antiproliferative and antimetastasic properties of some citrus flavonoids.

In this paper we discuss the relation between each structural factor and the anticancer activity of Citrus flavonoids.

Keywords: Flavonoid; citrus; cancer; apigenin; tangeretin; rutin; diosmin

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/156800907783220435

Publication date: 2007-12-01

More about this publication?

• Current Cancer Drug Targets aims to cover all the latest and outstanding developments on the medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology, genomics and biochemistry of contemporary molecular drug targets involved in cancer, e.g. disease specific proteins, receptors, enzymes, genes.
  Each issue of the journal contains a series of timely in-depth reviews written by leaders in the field covering a range of current topics on drug targets involved in cancer.
  As the discovery, identification, characterization and validation of novel human drug targets for anti-cancer drug discovery continues to grow; this journal has become essential reading for all pharmaceutical scientists involved in drug discovery and development.

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• In this Subject: Oncology ,  Pharmacology
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