Resveratrol

One of the ways resveratrol acts to prevent cancer is through its effects on biotransformation enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that can break down large molecules into simpler forms that cells are able to use or discard. Cytochrome P450 enzymes make up a large family of enzymes found in all domains of life. They metabolize thousands of endogenous and exogenous compounds. Some compounds have to be metabolized in the body by cytochrome P450 enzymes before they become carcinogenic. Studies have shown that resveratrol has the ability to inhibit the activity and expression of certain cytochrome P450 enzymes, thus lessening the exposure to activated carcinogens. In cultured cell studies, resveratrol has also been found to increase the expression and activity of the phase II enzyme NAD(P)H:quinon reductase. Phase II enzymes are primarily involved in the inactivation and excretion of carcinogens and other toxic chemical substances in the body. In increasing their activity, resveratrol promotes the excretion of these harmful chemicals. Resveratrol also acts as an antioxidant by inhibiting the formation of free radicals that have potential to cause damage by attacking healthy cells. In these ways, resveratrol helps prevent the initiation of cancer.

Resveratrol additionally helps in the preservation of normal cell cycle regulation. Cell cycle regulation is an important function in dealing with DNA damage. If cell cycle regulation is defective, mutations in the cells may result which contribute to the development of cancer. Resveratrol has been found to induce cell cycle arrest for a transient period following DNA damage, in order to allow for DNA repair or activation of processes leading to cell death, should the damage be irreparable. In a resveratrol study by researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University, resveratrol was demonstrated to induce growth inhibition, S-phase arrest, apoptosis, and changes in biomarker expression in several human cancer cell lines. The researchers supported the use of resveratrol in chemoprevention and cancer therapy trials.

Related to cancer treatment, resveratrol also works to inhibit proliferation of cancer cells and induce apoptosis. Apoptosis is programmed cell death, in which cells undergo a sequence of events which lead to the death of the cell. Cancer cells are unable to respond to the regular signals that initiate apoptosis and display uncontrolled proliferation. Current cancer therapies primarily act by triggering apoptosis in cancer cells. Unlike chemotherapeutic drugs that affect normal cells in addition to the cancerous ones, resveratrol does not damage healthy cells in its induction of apoptosis and inhibition of cancer cell proliferation.