Resveratrol, a polyphenol found in red grapes, red wine, peanuts, blueberries and cranberries, can prevent the proliferation of cancer cells in various human cell lines. In addition, orally administered resveratrol showed an ability to thwart the development of certain cancers in animal models. Clinical trials designed to determine whether resveratrol can act as a cancer preventive in humans are in progress.
Breast Cancer
ScienceDaily.com summarizes an article that appeared in the July 2008 issue of "Cancer Prevention Research" in which researchers, working with human cells, described how resveratrol blocked the first step in a sequence of events that leads to breast cancer. This first step occurs when estrogen forms adducts with DNA inside the cell, and the researchers observed that resveratrol at low concentrations could prevent these adducts from forming. They believe that resveratrol accomplishes this by fostering the production of a certain enzyme that inactivates the estrogen adducts.
Human Melanoma Cells
In the August 19, 2005 issue of "Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications," scientists reported the results of their study of the ability of resveratrol to retard the growth of weakly metastatic and highly metastatic human melanoma cells. Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer. The researchers found that resveratrol inhibited the growth and division of both types of melanoma cells, and it did this by augmenting the expression of p53, a tumor-suppressing gene.
Colon Cancer in Rats
In an article in the July 2006 issue of "The British Journal of Nutrition," researchers described the use of a rat model to study the ability of resveratrol to prevent the development of colon cancer. They used the activity of colonic bacterial enzymes connected with the development of cancer and the number of aberrant crypt foci as markers for colon carcinogenesis. Aberrant crypt foci are abnormal tube-like glands that later become colorectal polyps. They found that the activity of colonic bacterial enzymes connected with cancer was lower in rats with chemically-induced colon cancer treated with resveratrol relative to the activity seen in the absence of resveratrol. In addition, the resveratrol-treated rats developed fewer aberrant crypt foci.
Esophageal Cancer in Rats
Reporting in the September 2002 issue of "Carcinogenesis," researchers discussed the mechanism by which orally administered resveratrol suppressed chemically-induced esophageal cancer in the rat. The researchers state that the number and size of esophageal tumors were markedly reduced in resveratrol-treated rats relative to untreated rats. They believe that resveratrol acts to lower the production of a hormone-like substance called prostaglandin E2 as well as the production of the two enzymes that catalyze prostaglandin E2 synthesis.
References
- Oregon State University: Micronutrient Information Center: Resveratrol: Disease Prevention: Cancer
- ScienceDaily.com: Science News: Cancer Preventive Properties Identified in Resveratrol, Found in Red Wine, Red Grapes
- "Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications"; Inhibition of melanoma cell proliferation by resveratrol is correlated with upregulation of quinone reductase 2 and p53; Joseph M. Wu, et al.; August 2005
- "The British Journal of Nutrition"; Dietary supplementation of resveratrol suppresses colonic tumor incidence in 1,2-dimethylhydrazine-treated rats by modulating biotransforming enzymes and aberrant crypt foci development; Murugan Sengottuvelan, et al.; July 2006
- "Carcinogenesis"; Suppression of N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine (NMBA)-induced esophageal tumorigenesis in F344 rats by resveratrol; Masanori Imamura, et al.; September 2002
