Cancer is a complex disease and cancer development takes 10-50 years involving epigenetics. Evidence suggests that ~80% of human cancers are linked to environmental factors impinging upon genetics/epigenetics. Since advanced metastasized cancers are resistant to radiation/chemotherapeutic drugs, cancer prevention by relatively non-toxic chemopreventive "epigenetic modifiers" involving epigenetics/epigenomics is logical. Isothiocyanates are relatively non-toxic at low nutritional and even higher pharmacological doses, with good oral bioavailability, potent anti-oxidative stress/anti-inflammatory activities, possess epigenetic modifying properties, great anti-cancer efficacy in many in vitro cell culture and in vivo animal models. This review summarizes the latest advances on the role of epigenetics/epigenomics by isothiocyanates in prevention of skin, colon, lung, breast, and prostate cancers. The exact molecular mechanism how isothiocyanates modify the epigenetic/epigenomic machinery is unclear. We postulate "redox" processes would play important roles. Additionally, isothiocyanates sulforaphane and phenethyl-isothiocyanate, possess multifaceted molecular mechanisms would be considered as "general" cancer preventive agents not unlike chemotherapeutic agents like platinum-based or taxane-based drugs. Analogous to chemotherapeutic agents, the isothiocyanates would need to be used in combination with other non-toxic chemopreventive phytochemicals or drugs such as NSAIDs, 5 α reductase/aromatase inhibitors targeting different signaling pathways would be logical for the prevention of progression of tumors to late advanced metastatic states.

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表观遗传学/表观基因组学和异硫氰酸酯预防早期癌症

癌症是一种复杂的疾病，癌症的发展需要 10-50 年的时间，涉及表观遗传学。有证据表明，约 80% 的人类癌症与影响遗传学/表观遗传学的环境因素有关。由于晚期转移性癌症对放射/化学治疗药物具有抗性，因此通过涉及表观遗传学/表观基因组学的相对无毒的化学预防“表观遗传修饰剂”来预防癌症是合乎逻辑的。异硫氰酸酯在低营养甚至更高的药理剂量下相对无毒，具有良好的口服生物利用度，有效的抗氧化应激/抗炎活性，具有表观遗传修饰特性，在许多体外细胞培养和体内具有良好的抗癌功效动物模型。本综述总结了异硫氰酸酯在预防皮肤癌、结肠癌、肺癌、乳腺癌和前列腺癌中的表观遗传学/表观基因组学作用的最新进展。异硫氰酸酯如何修饰表观遗传/表观基因组机制的确切分子机制尚不清楚。我们假设“氧化还原”过程将发挥重要作用。此外，异硫氰酸酯萝卜硫素和苯乙基异硫氰酸酯具有多方面的分子机制，与铂类或紫杉烷类药物等化学治疗剂不同，被认为是“通用”癌症预防剂。与化学治疗剂类似，异硫氰酸酯需要与其他无毒化学预防性植物化学物质或药物（例如 NSAIDs）联合使用，