Sulforaphane in Cancer Prevention and Therapy: A State-of-the-Art Review of Epidemiological Evidence, Molecular Mechanisms, and Translational Challenges.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review synthesizing epidemiological, mechanistic, and clinical evidence without systematic review methodology.
PubMed 41752163 · doi:10.3390/ijms27042028
What was done
This narrative review synthesized epidemiological data, molecular pathways (including Nrf2-ARE activation, HDAC and HIF-1α inhibition, apoptosis, and autophagy), and clinical trial evidence evaluating sulforaphane derived from cruciferous vegetables for cancer prevention and therapy, while outlining translational challenges.
What was found
The abstract provides qualitative descriptions without numerical data, effect sizes, or study counts. It notes that sulforaphane modulates redox balance, detoxification pathways, and epigenetic regulation, with clinical trials showing reductions in carcinogenic biomarkers and enhanced metabolic detoxification. Translational hurdles highlighted include limited bioavailability, dose optimization, and formulation standardization.
Why it matters
It provides an integrated synthesis connecting the molecular mechanisms of sulforaphane to clinical chemoprevention trials, clarifying the pharmacokinetic and standardization barriers that must be addressed for clinical application.
Limits
This is a non-systematic narrative review providing mechanism-based reasoning and broad summaries rather than a quantitative meta-analysis. The abstract reports no sample sizes, specific clinical endpoints, effect estimates, or risk-of-bias evaluations.