Resveratrol nanoformulation for cancer prevention and therapy

Abstract

Chemoprevention of human cancer(s) is a viable option for cancer control, especially when chemopreventive intervention is involved during the early stages of the carcinogenesis process. Naturally occurring bioactive food components, such as dietary polyphenols, have shown good antioxidant activity and other beneficial activities. In addition, compounds belonging to the polyphenolic chemical class may play promising roles in cancer prevention. Among them, the phytoalexin resveratrol has demonstrated antiproliferative effects, as well as the ability to inhibit initiation and promotion of induced cancer progression in a wide variety of tumor models. However, resveratrol, like other natural polyphenols, is an extremely photosensitive compound with low chemical stability and limited bioavailibility, which limit the therapeutic application of its beneficial effects. In this context, the development of innovative formulation strategies able to overcome physicochemical and pharmacokinetic limitations of this compound could be beneficial. This may be achieved via nanotechnology approaches utilizing suitable carriers that allow slow, sustained, and controlled release of the encapsulated agent. This review focuses on the recent developments of novel nanoformulations used to deliver sustained levels of resveratrol.

Nanoencapsulation of natural triterpenoid celastrol for prostate cancer treatment

“…Moreover, intracellular delivery of CL-NPs leads to a massive drug accumulation and localization near to the site of action, thus allowing for higher impact in terms of efficacy, but retaining the mechanistic identity of free CL. 50 The cellular uptake of FITC-loaded NPs, in all prostate cancer cell lines, was further investigated by confocal laser scanning microscope. As shown in Figure 9, after 2 hours incubation, NPs encapsulating FITC exhibited higher cellular uptake with strong fluorescence in both the cell cytoplasm and around the nucleus, confirming their internalization and sustained retention by the cancer cells.…”

Melanoma Chemoprevention: Current Status and Future Prospects

“…Thus far, the results from preclinical studies using resveratrol have failed to be replicated in humans, possibly due to the short half‐life, low bioavailability in vivo and lipophilic nature of resveratrol . To improve bioavailability and antimelanomagenesis activity, synthetic resveratrol derivatives and nanoformulations are now being explored as chemopreventive agents to prevent melanoma . A recent study by Sanna et al .…”

Oxidative Stress: a Promising Target for Chemoprevention

“…Phytoestrogens are phenolic compounds that are naturally occurring bioactive food components with diverse chemopreventive properties including antioxidant and angiogenic activities (Cao et al 2005; Siddiqui et al 2015). Of the various classes of phytoestrogens, resveratrol (trans-3,4′,5-trihydroxystilbene), found in varying concentrations in many plants such as grapes, berries and nuts, has evidently showed that it interferes with all three stages of carcinogenesis (initiation, promotion, and progression).…”