Red Wine: A Double-Edge Sword in Fighting Prostate Cancer

Amy Taylor November 12, 2012

Past studies show that resveratrol – a compound found in the skin of grapes and red wine, promotes better heart health and lowers the risk of stroke. But wait, there’s more! Just recently, researchers from University of Missouri found that it may also help treat all types of prostate cancer, including aggressive tumours.

The health benefits of resveratrol, a key ingredient in red wine, have been a subject of scientific research for many years. Some experts believe that it may help lower cholesterol and prevent blood clotting in humans. But it seems that the compound has more to offer. When combined with conventional prostate cancer treatments like chemotherapy or radiotherapy, resveratrol becomes a double-edged sword in fighting cancer cells.

Resveratrol for Prostate Cancer

According to the researchers, prostate tumour cells contain very low levels of perforin and granzyme B – two types of protein that when joined together, become strong enough to destroy cancer cells. However, these proteins need to be highly expressed to be able to destroy tumour cells. And this is where resveratrol comes in. When exposed to the compound, prostate tumour cells become more vulnerable to radiotherapy. After the treatment, 97% of the cancer cells died – a result that is much higher than that of radiation therapy alone.

Resveratrol works by increasing the activities in tumour cells. The researchers emphasised that the effects of the compound resulted to the destruction of all types of prostate tumour cells, including the aggressive ones. Their findings were published in the Journal of Andrology and Cancer Science.

Michael Nicholl, assistant professor of surgical oncology in the School of Medicine at MU, said they are going to perform an animal study first before initiating clinical trials to test the efficiency of resveratrol in humans.

High doses necessary to achieve anti-cancer effects

But in order to reap the anti-cancer effects of resveratrol, high doses are necessary which may lead to uncomfortable side effects, the researchers warned. Past study suggests that to obtain the health benefits of resveratrol observed in animals, one should drink 60 litres of red wine a day. Nicholl argues that humans don’t really need a large dose of the compound to eliminate cancer cells. However, the body processes resveratrol so fast that it may need more of it to reach the areas affected by cancer.

"It’s very attractive as a therapeutic agent since it is a natural compound and something that most of us have consumed in our lifetimes."

The researchers are set to conduct human clinical trials which will pave way for developing new forms of treatment for prostate cancer that are better and more effective.

Dear Readers,

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Source of this article:

Compound in Grapes, Red Wine Could be Key to Fighting Prostate Cancer