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. 2020 May 29;11(2):261–287. doi: 10.1007/s13167-020-00210-5

Table 3.

Genoprotective properties of plant natural substances in clinical cancer research

Genoprotective mechanism Natural substance/dietary supplement Study design Participants characteristic (number of participants) Group distribution, dosage Genoprotective activities Reference
Antioxidant activity Anthocynin/polyphenolic-rich fruit juice Healthy non-smoking men (n = 27)

Fruit juice (n = 18, 700 ml/daily);

Control (n = 9, polyphenol depleted juice) for 4 weeks

Fruit juice:

↓ oxidative DNA damage

↑ GSH

↑ GSH status

[150]
Watercress A single-blind, randomised, crossover study Healthy smokers (n = 30), healthy non-smokers (n = 30) Watercress supplementation: 85 g/daily or control for 8 weeks

Watercress supplementation:

↓ basal DNA damage (17 %; p = 0.03),

↓ basal plus oxidative purine DNA damage (23.9 %; p = 0.002)

↑ plasma lutein (by 100 %)

↑ plasma β-carotene (33 %) (p < 0.001)

[149]
Kiwifruits A randomised crossover study Healthy non-smokers (n = 14) 1, 2, or 3 kiwifruits/daily each volunteer

↑ Antioxidant status of plasma and lymphocytes (↓ DNA breaks)

↓ levels of endogenous oxidation of pyrimidines and purines in DNA

↑ DNA repair activity

[18]
Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and D-α-tocopherol (vitamin E) History of melanoma, BCC or SSC (n = 14), no UV-induced skin cancer (n = 4) Ascorbic acid 2 g/daily and D-α-tocopherol 1000 IU/daily for 90 days

↓ Sunburn reaction to UVB irradiation

↓ thymine dimers

[158]
GTP Phase IIa randomised, double-blinded and placebo-controlled chemopreventive trial High-risk individuals of liver cancer (n = 124) Low dose (500 mg GTP/daily, n = 42), high dose (1000 mg GTP/daily, n = 41), or placebo (n = 41) ↓ DNA damage (↓ 8-OHdG level) [151]
Protection against exposure to carcinogens Ethiopian kale (Brassica carinata) Randomised, single blind, controlled crossover intervention trial Healthy participants (n = 22)

Cooked B. carinata group (n = 11);

Raw B. carinata group (n = 11) for 5 days (15 g of freeze-dried B. carinata leaves/daily cooked/unprocessed)

Cooked B. carinata: ↓ AFB1-induced DNA damage (+S9 mix: 35%, −S9 mix: 33 %, p ≤ 0.01)

Raw B. carinata: ↓ AFB1-induced DNA damage (+S9: 21 %, p = 0.08)

[152]
XAN Crossover placebo-controlled trial Healthy non-smokers (n = 22) XAN-beverage (12 mg of xanthohumol, n = 11); placebo (n = 11) for 2 weeks (1l/daily) XAN: → α-GST [154]
Coffee First trial (n = 10) Unfiltered coffee (1l/daily over 5 days) → GSTP [155]
Second trial (n = 14) Unfiltered and paper filtered coffee (1l/daily over 3 days) → GSTP
Third trial (n = 7) Unfiltered coffee (1l/daily over 5 days) ↓ BPDE-induced DNA migration
Brussel sprouts Intervention study Healthy participants (n = 8) Brussel sprouts for 6 days (300 g/daily)

Brussel sprouts: ↓ PhIP-induced DNA migration (97%)

↓ endogenous formation of oxidised bases

↓ hydrogen peroxide-induced DNA damage (39 %)

[156]
DNA damage protection High-phenol EVOO Randomised crossover intervention trial Healthy postmenopausal women (n = 10) High-phenol EVOO (592 mg total phenols/kg), low-phenol EVOO (147 mg/kg) 50 g/daily ↓ DNA damage by 30% with high-EVOO vs. low-EVOO [24]
Carotenoid supplementation Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled intervention study Healthy postmenopausal non-smoking women (n = 37) Daily dose of mixed carotenoids (β-carotene, lutein, and lycopene; 4 mg each), 12 mg of a single carotenoid (beta-carotene, lutein, or lycopene), or placebo for 56 days All carotenoid supplemented groups: ↓ endogenous DNA damage [26]
Broccoli Randomised crossover study Healthy young smokers and non-smokers (n = 20) Broccoli (200 g/daily) or controlled diet for 10 days

↓ Strand breaks in smokers and non-smokers (− 22.2%; p < 0.0001)

↓ oxidised purines in smokers (− 51.0%; p < 0.0001)

[157]

AFB1 aflatoxin B1; BCC basal cell carcinoma; BPDE (±)-anti-B[a]P-7,8-dihydrodiol-9,10- epoxide; EVOO extra-virgin olive oil; GSH reduced glutathione; GSTP glutathione S-transferase P; GTP green tea polyphenols; HCA heterocyclic amines; SSC squamous cell carcinoma; UV ultraviolet radiation; UVB ultraviolet B; XAN xanthohumol; α-GST glutathione S-transferase α; 8-OHdG 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine

↑increase

↓decrease

→induction