Resveratrol and Cancer: Chemoprevention, Apoptosis, and Chemoimmunosensitizing Activities

Abstract

The polyphenolic compound Resveratrol is a naturally occurring phytochemical and can be found in many plant species, including grapes, peanuts and various herbs. Several studies have established that Resveratrol can exert anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. It also has activity in the regulation of multiple cellular events associated with carcinogenesis. This review describes the general properties of Resveratrol including its relationship to estrogen, its effect on lipid metabolism, its cardiovascular effects, and its role on gene expression. Resveratrol has also been examined in several model systems for its potential effect against cancer. Its anti-cancer effects include its role as a chemopreventive agent, its ability to inhibit cell proliferation, its direct effect in cytotoxicity by induction of apoptosis and on its potential therapeutic effect in pre-clinical studies. In addition, Resveratrol has been shown to exert sensitization effects on cancer cells that will result in a synergistic cytotoxic activity when Resveratrol is used in combination with cytotoxic drugs in drug-resistant tumor cells. Clearly, the studies with Resveratrol provide support for the use of Resveratrol in human cancer chemoprevention and combination with chemotherapeutic drugs or cytotoxic factors in the treatment of drug refractory tumor cells.

Resveratrol Inhibits Oesophageal Adenocarcinoma Cell Proliferation via AMP-activated Protein Kinase Signaling

“…Resveratrol is reported to exert antitumor activities at various stages of tumor initiation, promotion and progression (Jang et al, 1997). This is corroborated by reports of chemo-preventive effect of resveratrol in various cancer cell lines like, HeLa, A549 and MCF-7 (Cal et al, 2003). Various mechanisms for anti-proliferative action of resveratrol have been proposed including increase in tumor suppressor proteins like, p53, phosphorylation of Rb protein and transcription factors like NF-κB and AP-1 (Liu et al, 2010).…”

“…Resveratrol is a parent compound of a family of molecules including glucosides and polymers (Cal et al, 2003), existing in cis and transconfigurations in narrow range of spermatophytes of which vines, peanuts and pines are the prime representatives (Kiselev et al, 2011;Nakata et al, 2012;Neves et al, 2012). Previous studies have reported that resveratrol exerted antitumor activities at various stages of tumor initiation, promotion and progression (Cimino et al, 2012;Stefanska et al, 2012;Whitlock et al, 2012), including in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (Tang et al, 2013).…”

Mechanism of inhibition of bovine F 1 -ATPase by resveratrol and related polyphenols

“…They include protection against cardiovascular disease, ischemia, osteoporosis, cancer, and aging by means of mechanisms that include removal of reactive oxygen species, inhibition of mitosis and inflammation, and estrogen mimicry (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10).…”

Crystal Structure of Quinone Reductase 2 in Complex with Resveratrol,

“…Despite extensive investigation, no clear molecular basis for the actions of resveratrol has emerged. A variety of hypotheses have been proposed to explain its functions: antioxidant effects, proapoptotic effects, cell-cycle regulation, inhibition of protein kinases, regulation of NFκB and Iκ3, and modulation of estrogen effects (3,6). As a polyphenol, resveratrol will evidently exhibit reductive properties and consequently will scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS, such as H 2 O 2 , HO·, and 0 2− ) (7).…”