Sulforaphane and Other Nutrigenomic Nrf2 Activators: Can the Clinician’s Expectation Be Matched by the Reality?

Figure 1

The mechanism by which Nrf2 activation increases the expression of genes with an Antioxidant Response Element (ARE) in their promoter regions. Human Keap-1 contains 27 cysteine residues providing sulfhydryl groups (-SH) which act as sensors of ARE inducers including oxidative stress [69]. Small Maf protein is essential for Nrf2 function [170]. Figure adapted from Kensler et al., 2003, with permission [51].