CHAPTER 1. Role of Nutrition, the Epigenome, and MicroRNAs in Cancer Pathogenesis

Good nutrition is important for the maintenance of human health. Specific bioactive factors in foods such as fruits, cruciferous vegetables, soybeans, and green tea possess protective effects against a large range of cancers. This chapter reviews current scientific evidence indicating how dietary factors (i.e., edible polyphenols) employ epigenetic and microRNA (miRNA) mechanisms to confer their anti-cancer properties. The emerging fields of the gut microbiota (and the bacterial metabolite butyrate) and ingested plant xenomiRs are also discussed. A complete understanding of how miRNAs respond to nutritional and epigenetic cues to control cancer signaling pathways will lead to novel diagnostic tools and the development of affordable dietary therapeutics and/or edible vaccines for human malignancies.