Resveratrol

Resveratrol induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells.
Zhou JH, Cheng HY, Yu ZQ, He DW, Pan Z, Yang DT.
Chin Med J (Engl). 2011 Jun;124(11):1695-9.

 Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal human cancers with a very low survival rate of 5 years. Conventional cancer treatments including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or combinations of these show little effect on this disease. Several proteins have been proved critical to the development and the progression of pancreatic cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of resveratrol on apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells. Several pancreatic cancer cell lines were screened by resveratrol, and its toxicity was tested by normal pancreatic cells. Western blotting was then performed to analyze the molecular mechanism of resveratrol induced apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cell lines. In the screened pancreatic cancer cell lines, capan-2 and colo357 showed high sensitivity to resveratrol induced apoptosis. Resveratrol exhibited insignificant toxicity to normal pancreatic cells. In resveratrol sensitive cells, capan-2 and colo357, the activation of caspase-3 was detected and showed significant caspase-3 activation upon resveratrol treatment; p53 and p21 were also detected up-regulated upon resveratrol treatment. Resveratrol provides a promising anti-tumor stratagy to fight against pancreatic cancer. PMID: 21740780

  Resveratrol and health – A comprehensive review of human clinical trials.
Smoliga JM, Baur JA, Hausenblas HA.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2011 Jun 20

 In the past decade, the small polyphenol resveratrol has received widespread attention as either a potential therapy or as a preventive agent for numerous diseases. Studies using purified enzymes, cultured cells, and laboratory animals have suggested that resveratrol has anti-aging, anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidant properties that might be relevant to chronic diseases and/or longevity in humans. Although the supporting research in laboratory models is quite substantial, only recently data has emerged to describe the effects of resveratrol supplementation on physiological responses in humans. The limited number of human clinical trials that are available has largely described various aspects of resveratrol’s safety and bioavailability, reaching a consensus that it is generally well-tolerated, but have poor bioavailability. Very few published human studies have explored the ability of resveratrol to achieve the physiological benefits that have been observed in laboratory models, although many clinical trials have recently been initiated. This review aims to examine the current state of knowledge on the effects of resveratrol on humans and to utilize this information to develop further guidelines for the implementation of human clinical trials. PMID: 21688389
Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  Resveratrol in cardiovascular disease: what is known from current research?
Wang H, Yang YJ, Qian HY, Zhang Q, Xu H, Li JJ.
Heart Fail Rev. 2011 Jun 19

 Resveratrol is a well-known antioxidant that exists in grape skin/seed, red wine, and the root of Polygonum cuspidatum, a traditional Chinese and Japanese medicinal material. Studies have found that resveratrol has many interesting properties, including anti-carcinogenic properties, anti-microbial and antiviral effects, the ability to reverse dyslipidemia and obesity, the ability to attenuate hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, and the ability to protect endothelial function. Heart failure is the final consequence of the majority of cardiovascular diseases, and resveratrol has been shown to directly attenuate heart contraction. The cardiovascular protective capacities of resveratrol are associated with multiple molecular targets and may lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for atherosclerosis, ischemia/reperfusion, metabolic syndrome, and heart failure. This article will mainly review recently published basic researches about the protective cardiovascular effects of resveratrol because these results may lead to the development of new clinical therapeutics in patients. PMID: 21688187

  Oral resveratrol therapy inhibits cancer-induced skeletal muscle and cardiac atrophy in vivo.
Shadfar S, Couch ME, McKinney KA, Weinstein LJ, Yin X, Rodríguez JE, Guttridge DC, Willis M.
Nutr Cancer. 2011 Jul;63(5):749-62.

 The mechanism by which cancer mediates muscle atrophy has been delineated in the past 3 decades and includes a prominent role of tumor-derived cytokines, such as IL-6, TNFα, and IL-1. These cytokines interact with their cognate receptors on muscle to activate the downstream transcription factor NF-κB and induce sarcomere proteolysis. Experimentally, inhibiting NF-κB signaling largely prevents cancer-induced muscle wasting, indicating its prominent role in muscle atrophy. Resveratrol, a natural phytoalexin found in the skin of grapes, has recently been shown to inhibit NF-κB in cancer cells, which led us to hypothesize that it might have a protective role in cancer cachexia. Therefore, we investigated whether daily oral resveratrol could protect against skeletal muscle loss and cardiac atrophy in an established mouse model. We demonstrate resveratrol inhibits skeletal muscle and cardiac atrophy induced by C26 adenocarcinoma tumors through its inhibition of NF-κB (p65) activity in skeletal muscle and heart. These studies demonstrate for the first time the utility of oral resveratrol therapy to provide clinical benefit in cancer-induced atrophy through the inhibition of NF-κB in muscle. These findings may have application in the treatment of diseases with parallel pathophysiologies such as muscular dystrophy and heart failure. PMID: 21660860