Olive tree bioactives: phenolic compounds with hormone-like activities

Olive tree and its edible products (i.e. table olives and extra virgin olive oil EVOO) are common symbols of the Mediterranean landscapes and of the worldwide famous Mediterranean diets. They are a rich source of phenolic compounds - such as secoiridoids (e.g., tyrosol, hydroxytyrosol, oleochantal, verbascoside), flavonoids (e.g., apigenin, luteolin,, quercetin) and lignans - whose proposed physiological activities ranging from anti-inflammatory to anti-oxidant, from anti-proliferative to endocrine-like modulation. Such beneficial role of olive tree bioactives, including those one recovered by by-products such as olive mill wastewaters, have been also investigated in different in vitro experimental models. An overview of olive tree bioactives acting on sex steroid nuclear receptors, such as the androgen (AR) and estrogen receptors (ERs), will be provided showing their predicted ligand-receptor binding obtained by Molecular Docking. Hence, examples of their role as endocrine-like modulators in different hormone-dependent cell lines will be given.