Generations of American children have been told, “Eat your broccoli!” And for decades, researchers have known that broccoli and related vegetables like cauliflower and watercress ____1____ lower the risk of some cancers. And that compounds in the vegetables could kill cancer cells. But how the cruciferous veggies worked their ____2____ was a mystery. Until now. Because researchers have figured out just what broccoli does that helps keep cancer in check. The work appears in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

Proteins ____3____ the gene p53 help keep cancer from starting to grow. But when the p53 gene is mutated, the protection is gone. Mutated p53 is ____4____ about half of all human cancers.

Broccoli and its relatives are rich in compounds called isothiocyanates, or ITCs. And these ITCs apparently destroy the products of the mutant p53 gene, but leave the healthy p53 proteins alone and free to ____5____.

The researchers write that “depletion of mutant p53 may reduce drug resistance and lead to new strategies for treating cancer in the clinic.” In the meantime, eat your broccoli!
【视听版科学小组荣誉出品】
appeared to medical magic coded by implicated in suppress tumor development
美国现今这代小孩经常听到这么一句话：“快吃你的花椰菜吧！”而十年来，研究人员发现花椰菜和同种蔬菜——比如说菜花和水田芹——似乎能减低某些癌症的发病率。蔬菜里的化合物可以杀死癌细胞。以前我们仍不知道十字花科蔬菜是怎样实现这个医学奇迹的——但现在我们可知道了。因为研究人员已经理解了花椰菜控制癌细胞的方法。这项研究发表在《药物化学杂志》上。 p53基因编码的蛋白质可以抑制癌细胞生长。但若p53基因突变，这种蛋白质就不能合成。p53基因突变和过半数人类癌症有关。 花椰菜以及同种蔬菜富含化合物异硫氰酸盐，又称ITCs。这些ITCs似乎会破坏变异p53基因的合成物，但不干扰正常p53蛋白质，让正常p53蛋白质自由抑制肿瘤生长。 研究人员写道：“减少变异的p53基因可能会降低抗药性，产生新的临床癌症治疗方式。”在医学发展的同时，赶紧吃你的花椰菜吧！^o^