Researchers identify cancer preventive properties in common vitamin supplement

Early laboratory research has shown that resveratrol, a common dietary supplement, suppresses the abnormal cell formation that leads to most types of breast cancer, suggesting a potential role for the agent in breast cancer prevention. Resveratrol is a natural substance found in red wine and red grapes. It is sold in extract form as a dietary supplement at most major drug stores.

"Resveratrol has the ability to prevent the first step that occurs when estrogen starts the process that leads to cancer by blocking the formation of the estrogen DNA adducts. We believe that this could stop the whole progression that leads to breast cancer down the road," said Eleanor G. Rogan, Ph.D., a professor in the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Rogan was the lead author of the report that was published in the July 2008 issue of Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

For the current study, Rogan and colleagues measured the effect of resveratrol on cellular functions known to contribute to breast cancer.

The formation of breast cancer is a multi-step process which differs depending on type of disease, a patient's genetic makeup and other factors. However, scientists know that many breast cancers are fueled by increased estrogen, which collects and reacts with DNA molecules to form adducts. Rogan and colleagues found that resveratrol was able to suppress the formation of these DNA adducts.

"This is dramatic because it was able to be done with fairly low concentrations of resveratrol to stop the formation of these DNA adducts in the cells we studied," said Rogan. Although researchers experimented with up to 100 µmol/L of resveratrol, the suppression of DNA adducts was seen with 10 µmol/L. A glass of red wine contains between 9 and 28 µmol/L of resveratrol.

The researchers also found that resveratrol suppressed the expression of CYP1B1 and the formation of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, two known risk factors for breast cancer.

Rogan said resveratrol works by inducing an enzyme called quinone reductase, which reduces the estrogen metabolite back to inactive form. By making estrogen inactive, resveratrol decreases the associated risk.

The current study was conducted in laboratory cultures, and will need to be confirmed in larger human trials, Rogan said.

Source: American Association for Cancer Research

Related stories:

Red wine's resveratrol may help battle obesity
Resveratrol, a compound present in grapes and red wine, reduces the number of fat cells and may one day be used to treat or prevent obesity, according to a new study. The results will be presented at The Endocrine Society's 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
Red wine compound shown to prevent prostate cancer
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have found that nutrients in red wine may help reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer.
Studies spot numerous undiscovered gene alterations in pancreatic and brain cancers
HHMI investigators have detected a multitude of broken, missing, and overactive genes in pancreatic and brain tumors, in the most detailed genetic survey yet of any human tumor. Some of these genetic changes were previously unknown and could provide new leads for improved diagnosis and therapy for these devastating cancers.
Bisphenol A linked to metabolic syndrome in human tissue
New research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) implicates the primary chemical used to produce hard plastics—bisphenol A (BPA)—as a risk factor for metabolic syndrome and its consequences.
Potential remedy for the 'mental fog' in cancer patients
Cancer patients have complained for years about the mental fog known as chemobrain. Now in animal studies at West Virginia University (WVU), researchers have discovered that injections of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), an antioxidant, can prevent the memory loss that breast cancer chemotherapy drugs sometimes induce. The WVU researchers' study has just been published in the September issue of the Springer journal Metabolic Brain Disease.
Study: New way to spot breast cancer shows promise
(AP) -- A radioactive tracer that "lights up" cancer hiding inside dense breasts showed promise in its first big test against mammograms, revealing more tumors and giving fewer false alarms, doctors reported Wednesday. The experimental method - molecular breast imaging, or MBI - would not replace mammograms for women at average risk of the disease.
New nano device detects immune system cell signaling
Scientists have detected previously unnoticed chemical signals that individual cells in the immune system use to communicate with each other over short distances.
New discovery about growth factor can be breakthrough for cancer research
A research team at the Ludwig Institute and Uppsala University has discovered an entirely new signal path for a growth factor that is of crucial importance for the survival and growth of cancer cells. This discovery, published in today’s issue of Nature Cell Biology, opens up an entirely new landscape for research on breast and prostate cancer, among other types.

News discussion:

Medicine & Health news