Prostate Cancer, Oxidative Stress, and Antioxidant Phytochemicals: A Brief Review

This paper aimed to examine the biological mechanism of oxidative stress in prostate cancer (PCa) progression and review the potential of antioxidant phytochemicals as chemoprevention or chemotherapy for PCa. There is growing concern about the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables, especially for preventing and treating chronic diseases, such as PCa. Epidemiological studies and clinical trials have shown that these health benefits are closely related to antioxidant phytochemicals. Experimental and clinical evidence showed that oxidative stress is one of the important factors in the pathogenesis of PCa. The balance between oxidative and antioxidant components and the regulatory mechanisms appear to play an important role in the development of malignant states of the prostate. Antioxidant phytochemicals have the potential for cancer chemoprevention and chemotherapy. Moreover, lower or higher concentrations of antioxidant phytochemicals have different effects, possibly due to different intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) leading to different cellular stress responses. At low concentrations, antioxidant phytochemicals appear to inhibit ROS formation, while at high concentrations, they selectively kill cells, possibly by promoting ROS production and mitochondrial dysfunction. The antioxidant phytochemicals show strong potential for chemoprevention and chemotherapy in human PCa, possibly through the regulation of ROS. Targeting oxidative stress with antioxidant phytochemicals during the development of PCa will provide important approaches for designing single or combined cancer treatment strategies.