Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Nov 11;4(4):34.
doi: 10.3390/diseases4040034.

The Role of the Nrf2/ARE Antioxidant System in Preventing Cardiovascular Diseases

Robert E Smith  1 , Kevin Tran  2 , Cynthia C Smith  3 , Miranda McDonald  4 , Pushkar Shejwalkar  5 , Kenji Hara  6
Affiliations
Review

The Role of the Nrf2/ARE Antioxidant System in Preventing Cardiovascular Diseases

Robert E Smith et al. Diseases. .

Abstract

It is widely believed that consuming foods and beverages that have high concentrations of antioxidants can prevent cardiovascular diseases and many types of cancer. As a result, many articles have been published that give the total antioxidant capacities of foods in vitro. However, many antioxidants behave quite differently in vivo. Some of them, such as resveratrol (in red wine) and epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG (in green tea) can activate the nuclear erythroid-2 like factor-2 (Nrf2) transcription factor. It is a master regulator of endogenous cellular defense mechanisms. Nrf2 controls the expression of many antioxidant and detoxification genes, by binding to antioxidant response elements (AREs) that are commonly found in the promoter region of antioxidant (and other) genes, and that control expression of those genes. The mechanisms by which Nrf2 relieves oxidative stress and limits cardiac injury as well as the progression to heart failure are described. Also, the ability of statins to induce Nrf2 in the heart, brain, lung, and liver is mentioned. However, there is a negative side of Nrf2. When over-activated, it can cause (not prevent) cardiovascular diseases and multi-drug resistance cancer.

Keywords: EGCG; Nrf2; antioxidants; cardiovascular diseases; multi-drug resistant cancer; resveratrol; transcription.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Structures of curcumin (A); caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) (B); rosamarinic acid (C); resveratrol (D) and p-coumaric acid (E).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Structure of urolithin A.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ames B.N., Shigenaga M.K., Hagen T.M. Oxidants, antioxidants, and the degenerative diseases of aging. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 1993;90:7915–7922. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.17.7915. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rice-Evans C.A., Miller N.J., Paganga J. Antioxidant properties of phenolic compounds. Trends Plant Sci. 1997;2:152–159. doi: 10.1016/S1360-1385(97)01018-2. - DOI
    1. Huang D., Ou B., Prior R.L. The chemistry behind antioxidant capacity assays. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2005;53:1841–1856. doi: 10.1021/jf030723c. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Llorent-Martínez E.J., Fernández-de Córdova M.L., Ortega-Barrales P., Ruiz-Medina A. Characterization and comparison of the chemical composition of exotic superfoods. Microchem. J. 2013;110:444–451. doi: 10.1016/j.microc.2013.05.016. - DOI
    1. Kerimi A., Williamson G. At the interface of antioxidant signalling and cellular function: Key polyphenol effects. Mol. Nutr. Food Res. 2016:1–19. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.201500940. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources