Antioxidant Intake and Antitumor Therapy: Toward Nutritional Recommendations for Optimal Results

Table 2

Antioxidants and antitumor therapy: (a) clinical evidence, (b) preclinical evidence.

(a)

Clinical evidence
Treatment	Disease	Results	Reference
High dose of vitamins C and E + radiotherapy	HNSCC	Improve adverse effects but decrease effectiveness of the treatment	[116, 117]
Normal dose of vitamins C, E and β-carotene + cisplatin + radiation	Cervical cancer	Decrease oxidative damage, increased muscle strength, and less fatigue	[118]
EGCG + radiotherapy	Breast cancer	Decrease the levels of angiogenic factors and HGF	[119]
Uncaria tomentosa + FAC	Breast cancer	Decrease the adverse effects without interfering with the efficacy of treatment	[120]
NAC and vitamin E + vincristine, doxorubicin, cytosine arabinoside, cyclophosphamide, and 6-mercaptopurine + radiation	ALL	Decrease the incidence of toxic hepatitis Decrease the requirement of blood and platelet transfusions during treatment	[121]
Melatonin + cisplatin plus etoposide or cisplatin plus gemcitabine	NSCLC	Increase the rate of tumor regression and greater two-year survival rate	[122]
Melatonin + oxaliplatin and 5-FU	Gastrointestinal cancer
Melatonin in combination with chemotherapy	Advanced NSCLC	Decrease the side effects with no better rates of survival	[123]

HNSCC: head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; ALL: acute lymphoblastic leukemia; NSCLC: non-small-cell lung carcinoma.

(b)

Preclinical evidence
Treatment	Experimental model	Results	Reference
Curcumin + radiotherapy	SCC1, SCC-9, A431, and KB of HNSCC	Increase the antitumor effect of radiation	[124]
EGCG + radiotherapy	Tumor cervical cells (HeLa), multiple myeloma (IM-9), and leukemic (K-562)	Decrease cell proliferation; Increase apoptosis and necrosis	[125]
Melatonin + radiotherapy	CD2-F1 mice	Increase the survival of animals	[126]
NAC + doxorubicin	Model of heart failure in Japanese white rabbits	Decrease apoptosis in cardiomyocytes	[127]
Vitamin C + doxorubicin	Cell lines of chronic myelogenous leukemia (K562) and lymphoma (RL)	Increase the resistance to treatment	[128]
	Mice with RL cell xenografts	Larger tumors in mice
Suppression of Prdx + doxorubicin	MCF-7 human breast tumor cells	Increase the apoptotic effect of the drug	[129]
ECGC + doxorubicin	Colorectal tumor cells; (BEL-7404/DOX)	Increase cell death and the sensitivity to the drug	[130]
Resveratrol + paclitaxel	Human breast tumor cells	Decrease the antitumor action of the drug	[131]
Nitroxide + docetaxel or doxorubicin	Mice with breast tumor cells xenografts	Decrease the side effects without interfering with the efficacy of treatment	[132]
Quercetin + cisplatin or 5-FU, taxol, or pirarubicin	Ovarian tumor cells (C13 and SKOV3)	High concentrations of quercetin: proapoptotic effect; Low concentrations of quercetin: decrease the damage caused by ROS	[133]
Quercetin at low doses  + cisplatin, 5-FU, taxol, or pirarubicin	Athymic nude mice with; ovarian tumor cells (C13) xenografts	Inefficiency in the treatment	[133]
High dose of vitamins A, E and selenium + cisplatin	Tumor cells of colon (COLO-205-GFP) induced in mice	Significant lower growth of tumors; compared to the control tumors	[134]
Curcumin + cisplatin	Liver tumor cells (HA22T/VGH)	Increase the cytotoxic effect of the drug	[135]
	HNSCC tumor cells (CAL27, UMSCC)		[136]
NAC before or up to 1 hour after the drug + cisplatin	Human ovarian carcinoma cells(SKOV3), human SCLC tumor cells (B.5 LX-1), human glioblastoma cells (U87), and rat Rat1 fibroblasts	Blocks the proapoptotic effect of the drug	[137]
NAC up to 4 hours after drug + cisplatin	Long-Evans rats	Otoprotective without interfering with the efficacy of treatment	[138]
Lycopene + cisplatin	Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats	Decrease the renal toxicity without interfering with the efficacy of treatment	[139]