Anthocyanins and cancer prevention

Anthocyanins are a class of water-soluble flavonoids, which give the intense color to many fruits and vegetables, such as blueberries and red cabbages. Recent studies have shown that anthocyanins have a range of pharmacological properties, such as prevention of cardiovascular disease, improvement of visual functions, obesity control, and anticancer activity. Their potential anticancer effects are reported to be based on a wide variety of biological activities including anti-oxidative stress; anti-inflammation; anti-mutagenesis; induction of differentiation; inhibition of proliferation; cell cycle arrest and apoptosis; anti-invasion; anti-metastasis; anti-angiogenesis and sensitizing cancer cells to chemotherapy. This chapter summarizes the latest developments on the anticancer activities of anthocyanins and anthocyanin-rich extracts in cell culture models, animal cancer models and some clinical trials. Their chemical structures, molecular mechanisms of action in cancer prevention, and in vivo pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics (PK-PD) properties will also be discussed.