Molecular approaches to explore natural and food-compound modulators in cancer epigenetics and metabolism

Chemical constituents isolated from food and other natural sources can interfere with many biological targets in human beings. Compounds like curcumin, genistein, plant and food polyphenols, resveratrol, and sulforaphane are able to modulate the biological activity of cell pathways and its functions in relation to metabolism and epigenetics. While the mechanisms by which these compounds exert their roles are still far to be fully elucidated, their usage has emerged in the past years for conceiving new cancer prevention strategies and novel therapeutic interventions. A deeper understanding on how metabolism and epigenetics are influenced by food and natural components can be achieved at molecular level by using a variety of chemoinformatic and computer-aided techniques that include data mining, molecular databasing, and molecular design techniques like pharmacophore-based methods or molecular docking. In this chapter, we will describe these in silico techniques as valuable tools to explore molecular determinants, and pharmacological role of food and other natural constituents in cancer epigenetics and metabolism.