It is widely accepted that diet changes are a powerful means to prevent cancer. The possible involvement of transcriptional activity in the anticancer activity of carotenoids will be the focus of this review. Carotenoids function as potent antioxidants, and this is clearly a major mechanism of their action. In addition carotenoids action involves interference in several pathways related to cancer cell proliferation and includes changes in the expression of many proteins participating in these processes such as connexins, phase II enzymes, cyclins, cyclin-dependent kinases and their inhibitors. These changes in protein expression suggest that the initial effect involves modulation of transcription by ligand-activated nuclear receptors or by other transcription factors. It is feasible to suggest that carotenoids and their oxidized derivatives interact with a network of transcription systems that are activated by different ligands at low affinity and specificity and that this activation leads to the synergistic inhibition of cell growth.

中文翻译：

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抗氧化剂类胡萝卜素对转录活性的调节。

饮食习惯的改变是预防癌症的有力手段，这一点已被广泛接受。转录活性可能参与类胡萝卜素的抗癌活性将是本综述的重点。类胡萝卜素作为有效的抗氧化剂，这显然是其作用的主要机制。另外，类胡萝卜素的作用涉及干扰与癌细胞增殖有关的几种途径，并且包括参与这些过程的许多蛋白质的表达变化，例如连接蛋白，II期酶，细胞周期蛋白，细胞周期蛋白依赖性激酶及其抑制剂。蛋白质表达的这些变化表明，最初的作用涉及配体激活的核受体或其他转录因子对转录的调节。