. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Jul 15.

Published in final edited form as: Curr Med Chem. 2010;17(20):2141–2151. doi: 10.2174/092986710791299966

Table 2.

Summary of dietary components for cancer inhibition

Dietary components	Food source	Classification	Functions in DNA methylation	Roles in cancer prevention	Target gene	References
Folate	Many beans and vegetables and some fruits	Water-soluble B vitamin	Providing methyl group for SAM synthesis (Methyl-donor)	Deficiency causes genome-wide DNA hypomethylation and genomic instability	N/A	44–46
EGCG	Green tea	Botanic polyphenol (Flavonol); tea catechins	Potent DNMT1 inhibitor; SAM/SAH↓	Reactivation of tumor suppressor genes by promoter hypomethylation	p16^INK4a; RAR β; MGMT; hMLH1; GSTP1; WIF-1; RECK	39, 68, 72–74
Genistein	Soybean	Botanic polyphenol (isoflavone)	DNMT1 inhibitor	Reactivation of tumor suppressor genes by promoter hypomethylation	p16^INK4a; RAR β; MGMT; PTEN; CYLD	40, 92
Selenium	Nuts and animal kidney and liver	Minerals; essential trace element	Inhibiting DNMT1 activity and affecting SAM/SAH	Deficiency causes global hypomethylation and promoter methylation of p53 and p16 genes	p53 and p16	96
Isothiocyanates	Cruciferous vegetables	Metabolites of glucosinolates	N/A	Reactivation of GSTP1gene by promoter hypomethylation	GSTP1	102