自古以来，膳食植物化学物质以其药用特性而闻名。它们广泛分为多酚类、萜类、生物碱、植物甾醇和有机硫化合物。目前，关于它们在抗击包括肺癌在内的各种疾病方面的潜在健康效应引起了相当大的兴趣。肺癌是癌症死亡的主要原因，肺癌患者的平均五年生存率仅限于14%。识别潜在的早期肺癌前恶性细胞分子生物标志物可能为开发早期癌症检测和干预方法提供强有力的基础。在本综述中，我们将讨论与肺癌发生和发展相关的分子变化，包括基因改变、炎症、信号转导途径、氧化还原失衡、表观遗传和蛋白质组学特征。我们还将重点介绍肺癌发展过程中植物化学物质的分子靶点。这些靶点主要包括细胞信号传导途径、表观遗传调节因子和代谢重编程。随着对天然产物研究的兴趣不断增长，将这些化合物转化为新的癌症预防方法对医疗护理将迫在眉睫。在这种背景下，我们还将讨论植物化学物质在转化为人类应用方面所面临的整体药代动力学挑战。最后，我们将讨论植物化学物质在肺癌患者中的临床试验。© 2023年 作者（精选）, 由Springer科学+商业媒体有限责任公司独家授权，属于Springer Nature的一部分。

Since ancient times, dietary phytochemicals are known for their medicinal properties. They are broadly classified into polyphenols, terpenoids, alkaloids, phytosterols, and organosulfur compounds. Currently, there is considerable interest in their potential health effects against various diseases, including lung cancer. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths with an average of five-year survival rate of lung cancer patients limited to just 14%. Identifying potential early molecular biomarkers of pre-malignant lung cancer cells may provide a strong basis to develop early cancer detection and interception methods. In this review, we will discuss molecular changes, including genetic alterations, inflammation, signal transduction pathways, redox imbalance, epigenetic and proteomic signatures associated with initiation and progression of lung carcinoma. We will also highlight molecular targets of phytochemicals during lung cancer development. These targets mainly consist of cellular signaling pathways, epigenetic regulators and metabolic reprogramming. With growing interest in natural products research, translation of these compounds into new cancer prevention approaches to medical care will be urgently needed. In this context, we will also discuss the overall pharmacokinetic challenges of phytochemicals in translating to humans. Lastly, we will discuss clinical trials of phytochemicals in lung cancer patients.© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.