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Perspectives on the Role of Isoflavones in Prostate Cancer

  • Review Article
  • Theme: Natural Products Drug Discovery in Cancer Prevention
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Abstract

Isoflavones have been investigated in detail for their role in the prevention and therapy of prostate cancer. This is primarily because of the overwhelming data connecting high dietary isoflavone intake with reduced risk of developing prostate cancer. A number of investigations have evaluated the mechanism(s) of anticancer action of isoflavones such as genistein, daidzein, biochanin A, equol, etc., in various prostate cancer models, both in vitro and in vivo. Genistein quickly jumped to the forefront of isoflavone cancer research, but the initial enthusiasm was followed by reports on its contradictory prometastatic and tumor-promoting effects. Use of soy isoflavone mixture has been advocated as an alternative, wherein daidzein can negate harmful effects of genistein. Recent research indicates a novel role of genistein and other isoflavones in the potentiation of radiation therapy, epigenetic regulation of key tumor suppressors and oncogenes, and the modulation of miRNAs, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and cancer stem cells, which has renewed the interest of cancer researchers in this class of anticancer compounds. This comprehensive review article summarizes our current understanding of the role of isoflavones in prostate cancer research.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Part of the work cited in this article was funded by National Cancer Institute, NIH grant 5R01CA083695 (F.H. Sarkar). Further, the authors want to mention that although this is a comprehensive overview on the subject, the journal's policy of limiting the number of cited references to 100 made it extremely challenging to cite all the relevant studies on isoflavones.

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All the authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, 740 HWCRC Bldg, 4100 John R. Street, Detroit, Michigan, 48201,, USA

    Aamir Ahmad, Yiwei Li, Bin Bao, Dejuan Kong, Sanjeev Banerjee & Fazlul H. Sarkar

  2. Organic Chemistry Laboratory, University Bayreuth, 95447, Bayreuth, Germany

    Bernhard Biersack

  3. Department of Oncology, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, 48201,, USA

    Shadan Ali & Fazlul H. Sarkar

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  1. Aamir Ahmad
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Correspondence to Fazlul H. Sarkar.

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Guest Editors: Ah-Ng Tony Kong and Chi Chen

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Ahmad, A., Biersack, B., Li, Y. et al. Perspectives on the Role of Isoflavones in Prostate Cancer. AAPS J 15, 991–1000 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1208/s12248-013-9507-1

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