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Review

Nature Reviews Cancer 3, 768–780 (1 October 2003) | doi:10.1038/nrc1189

Cancer chemoprevention with dietary phytochemicals

Young-Joon Surh

Chemoprevention refers to the use of agents to inhibit, reverse or retard tumorigenesis. Numerous phytochemicals derived from edible plants have been reported to interfere with a specific stage of the carcinogenic process. Many mechanisms have been shown to account for the anticarcinogenic actions of dietary constituents, but attention has recently been focused on intracellular-signalling cascades as common molecular targets for various chemopreventive phytochemicals.