Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Professor John Mathers, Dr Jonathan Coxhead, Dr John Tyson
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
At its most fundamental, cancer is a genetic disease in the sense that the primary events in tumorigenesis involve damage to the genome. The genome is subject to damage continuously from both exogenous agents and endogenous processes but this becomes functionally important only if the damage is not detected and resolved in a timely and effective manner. In mammals there are 5 DNA repair pathways, encoded by approximately 150 genes, which appear to have arisen early in evolution and which are highly conserved. Given the substantial epidemiological and experimental evidence that variation in dietary intake accounts for a significant proportion of the variance in cancer prevalence, an a priori case can be made that dietary factors may influence the effectiveness of DNA repair. A review of the literature has identified 4 observational and 8 intervention studies in human subjects where DNA repair (or a component thereof) has been measured in relation to nutrition. This rather limited evidence base precludes drawing definitive conclusions, but the fact that there were significant effects of dietary supplements in 5 out of the 8 intervention studies suggests that food components and/or nutritional status may influence DNA repair. This review considers possible molecular mechanisms through which such factors could modulate repair. © 2007 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.
Author(s): Mathers JC, Coxhead JM, Tyson J
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: Current Cancer Drug Targets
Year: 2007
Volume: 7
Issue: 5
Pages: 425-431
Print publication date: 01/08/2007
ISSN (print): 1568-0096
ISSN (electronic): 1873-5576
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/156800907781386588
DOI: 10.2174/156800907781386588
PubMed id: 17691901
