The Use of Isoflavones as Lung Cancer Chemoprevention Agents and their Implications in Treatment through Radio Sensitization

Efstratios Athanasiou; Savvas Papageorgiou; Marianna Foteini Dafni; Ioannis Kelesis; Maria Vasileiou; Theodora Tatsiou; Vasiliki Kouveloglou; Panagiotis Kanatas; Ioannis Stouras; Athanasios Gatsis; Vasiliki Taxiarchoula Agiassoti; Petros Nasimpian; Dimitrios Dafnoudis; Kyriaki Degaita; Georgios Ioannis Verras; Athanasios Alexiou; Marios Papadakis; Mohammad Amjad Kamal

doi:10.2174/0109298673278897231229121524

The Use of Isoflavones as Lung Cancer Chemoprevention Agents and their Implications in Treatment through Radio Sensitization

Curr Med Chem. 2024 Feb 1. doi: 10.2174/0109298673278897231229121524. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Efstratios Athanasiou¹, Savvas Papageorgiou^{2

3}, Marianna Foteini Dafni^{4

3}, Ioannis Kelesis^{5

3}, Maria Vasileiou^{6

3}, Theodora Tatsiou^{7

3}, Vasiliki Kouveloglou^{4

3}, Panagiotis Kanatas^{1

3}, Ioannis Stouras^{1

3}, Athanasios Gatsis^{4

3}, Vasiliki Taxiarchoula Agiassoti^{1

3}, Petros Nasimpian^{1

3}, Dimitrios Dafnoudis^{8

3}, Kyriaki Degaita¹, Georgios Ioannis Verras^{9

3}, Athanasios Alexiou^{10

11

12}, Marios Papadakis¹³, Mohammad Amjad Kamal^{14

15

16

17}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
² Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom.
³ Cancer Prevention Research Group in Greece, Kifisias Avenue 44, Marousi, Greece.
⁴ Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁵ School of Medicine, Poznań University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland.
⁶ Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
⁷ Department of Biology, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
⁸ Applied Bioinformatics Master Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁹ Department of Surgery, General University Hospital of Patras, Patra, Greece.
¹⁰ Department of Science and Engineering, Novel Global Community Educational Foundation, Hebersham, NSW2770, Australia.
¹¹ University Centre for Research & Development, Chandigarh University, Chandigarh- Ludhiana Highway, Mohali, Punjab, India.
¹² AFNP Med, Wien1030, Austria.
¹³ Department of Surgery II, University Hospital Witten-Herdecke, Heusnerstrasse 40, University of Witten- Herdecke, 42283, Wuppertal, Germany.
¹⁴ King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁵ Institutes for Systems Genetics, Frontiers Science Center for Disease-related Molecular Network, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, China.
¹⁶ Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Daffodil International University, Bangladesh.
¹⁷ Enzymoics, 7 Peterlee place, Hebersham, NSW 2770; Novel Global Community Educational Foundation, Australia.

PMID: 38369709
DOI: 10.2174/0109298673278897231229121524

Abstract

Epidemiological trends in cancer research show that lung cancer can affect up to 1 in 15 men and 1 in 17 women. With incidence rates as high as these and significant associated mortality and morbidity, it is no wonder that lung cancer is one of the main areas of research focused on cancer. Advances in targeted treatments and specialized irradiation protocols have allowed the treatment of more advanced cases. However, as the patient numbers grow, so does the need for cancer-preventive strategies. The present narrative review focuses on soy isoflavones' role in the chemoprevention of lung cancer and their possible role in therapeutic adjuncts. Laboratory studies on lung cancer cell lines have shown that isoflavones can induce apoptosis, tamper with the expression of proliferative molecular pathways, and even reduce tumor angiogenesis. Additionally, population-level studies have emerged that correlate the consumption of isoflavonoids with reduced risk for the development of lung cancer. Interestingly enough, the literature also contains small-scale studies with evidence of isoflavones being effective chemotherapeutic adjuncts that are currently understudied. Our literature review underlines such findings and provides a call for the enhancement of research regarding naturally occurring dietary products with possible anticarcinogenic effects.

Keywords: Natural compounds; chemoprevention.; isoflavones; lung cancer; phytochemicals; radiosensitization; soy products.