Cervical cancer represents the second leading cause of death for women worldwide. The importance of the diet and its impact on specific types of neoplasia has been highlighted, focusing again interest in the analysis of dietary phytochemicals. Polyphenols have shown a wide range of cellular effects: they may prevent carcinogens from reaching the targeted sites, support detoxification of reactive molecules, improve the elimination of transformed cells, increase the immune surveillance and the most important factor is that they can influence tumor suppressors and inhibit cellular proliferation, interfering in this way with the steps of carcinogenesis. From the studies reviewed in this paper, it is clear that certain dietary polyphenols hold great potential in the prevention and therapy of cervical cancer, because they interfere in carcinogenesis (in the initiation, development and progression) by modulating the critical processes of cellular proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, angiogenesis and metastasis. Specifically, polyphenols inhibit the proliferation of HPV cells, through induction of apoptosis, growth arrest, inhibition of DNA synthesis and modulation of signal transduction pathways. The effects of combinations of polyphenols with chemotherapy and radiotherapy used in the treatment of cervical cancer showed results in the resistance of cervical tumor cells to chemo- and radiotherapy, one of the main problems in the treatment of cervical neoplasia that can lead to failure of the treatment because of the decreased efficiency of the therapy.
Keywords: bioavailability; carcinogenesis; cervical cancer; chemotherapy; natural polyphenols.