Table 1.

Selected Nrf2 activators

Compound	Structure	Class	Source	Mechanisms of Nrf2 induction	Reference
Sulforaphane		Isothiocyanates	Cruciferous vegetables	Keap1-cys151 Activation of ERK1/2 and Akt kinase Acceleration of Nrf2 protein synthesis De-methylation of Nrf2 promoter	[15–20]
Curcumin		phenols	ginger	De-methylation of Nrf2 promoter Binding with cysteine residue of Keap1	[21–23]
DATS		organosulfur	garlic	Keap1-Cys288 Inducing ROS production Activation PI3K/Akt/Nrf 2	[24, 25]
EGCG		polyphenol	tea	Activation of the p38 MAPK and the ERK1/2 signaling pathways Dissociation of Nrf2 from Keap1 and Increasing the nuclear translocation Activation of ERK1/2 and PI3K/Akt	[26–30]
geneistein		isoflavone	lupin, fava beans, soybeans, kudzu, coffee and psoralea	Increasing keap1 S-nitrosylation and enhancing DNA binding activity of Nrf2 Increasing PI3K activity	[31, 32]
CDDO-Im		Michael reaction acceptors	Synthetic modification of natural product	Keap1-cys(?)1	[33–35]
Oltipraz		Dithiolethiones	Synthetic	Keap1-cys273, 288 Generation of H2O2	[36]
tBHQ		Oxidizable diphenols	Synthetic	Keap1-cys151 Ubiquitination of Keap1 Activation of JNK1 and ERK2	[17, 34, 37–40]
Arsenic trioxide	As3+	Trivalent arsenicals	Environment al toxicant	p62 dependent Ubiquitination of Keap1 Keap1-cys1512 273, 288	[41–44]

¹Specific position of cysteine is not clear.

²Both dependence and independent on Keap1-cys151 were reported, probably due to different experimental conditions such as cell cultures, treatment time and choice of amino acid mutation.