β-胡萝卜素的抗肿瘤作用及其分子机制研究进展

Advance in Antitumor Activity and Molecular Mechanism of β-Carotene

β-胡萝卜素可以抑制乳腺癌、结肠癌、白血病、黑色素瘤以及前列腺癌等多种肿瘤细胞的增殖,并能通过激活caspase-2和caspase-8、降低线粒体膜电位(Δψm)、增加细胞色素C的释放、调节核因子-κB(NF-κB)途径、抑制激活蛋白-1(AP-1)、下调抗凋亡蛋白Bcl-2、Bcl-XL和c-myc的表达、上调过氧化酶体增殖因子受体-γ(PPAR-γ)以及热休克蛋白70(Hsp70)和Hsp90的水平等机制促进肿瘤细胞凋亡。β-胡萝卜素的抗肿瘤作用与其对细胞内氧化还原状态的调节作用有关。而且,β-胡萝卜素促细胞凋亡的各种机制具有多效性,这些机制很可能是协同作用的,可见弄清楚其分子机制也为早日将β-胡萝卜素开发为功能性食品,应用于癌症的辅助治疗奠定理论基础。

β-carotene can inhibit tumor cells proliferation of many cancers including breast, colon, human leukemia, melanoma and prostate adenocarcinomas, and could promote apoptosis through activating caspase-2 and caspase-8, reducing mitochondrial membrane potential （ △ψm）, increasing the release of cytochrome c, regulate nuclear factor- kB （NF- k B） pathway, suppressing activation protein-1 （AP-1）, down-regulating the expression of anti-apoptosis protein Bcl-2, Bcl-XL and c-myc, up-regulating the level of peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor- y （PPAR- y） and heat-shocking protein 70 and 90. The ability of regulating the intracellular redox status of β-carotene is involved in its antitumor activity. Moreover, these mechanisms have a pleiotropy, it is very likely that they play synergistic effect to promote apoptosis, and therefore the clarification of its molecular mechanism will lay a theoretical foundation for developing β -carotene as a functional food and applying it to adjuvant cancer treatment.