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Researchers identify
Cancer preventive properties in common
vitamin supplement
Newswise — Early laboratory
research has shown that resveratrol, a
common dietary supplement, suppresses the
abnormal cell formation that leads to most
types of breast cancer, suggesting a
potential role for the agent in breast
cancer prevention.
Resveratrol is a natural
substance found in red wine and red grapes.
It is sold in extract form as a dietary
supplement at most major drug stores.
“Resveratrol has the ability
to prevent the first step that occurs when
estrogen starts the process that leads to
cancer by blocking the formation of the
estrogen DNA adducts.
"We
believe that this could stop the whole
progression that leads to breast cancer down
the road,” said Eleanor G. Rogan, Ph.D., a
professor in the Eppley Institute for
Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases at
the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Rogan was the lead author of
the report that was published in the July
2008 issue of Cancer Prevention Research, a
journal of the American Association for
Cancer Research.
For the current study, Rogan
and colleagues measured the effect of
resveratrol on cellular functions known to
contribute to breast cancer.
The formation of breast
cancer is a multi-step process which differs
depending on type of disease, a patient’s
genetic makeup and other factors.
However, scientists know that
many breast cancers are fueled by increased
estrogen, which collects and reacts with DNA
molecules to form adducts. Rogan and
colleagues found that resveratrol was able
to suppress the formation of these DNA
adducts.
“This is dramatic because it
was able to be done with fairly low
concentrations of resveratrol to stop the
formation of these DNA adducts in the cells
we studied,” said Rogan.
Although researchers
experimented with up to 100 µmol/L of
resveratrol, the suppression of DNA adducts
was seen with 10 µmol/L. A glass of red wine
contains between 9 and 28 µmol/L of
resveratrol.
The researchers also found
that resveratrol suppressed the expression
of CYP1B1 and the formation of
2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, two
known risk factors for breast cancer.
Rogan said resveratrol works
by inducing an enzyme called quinone
reductase, which reduces the estrogen
metabolite back to inactive form. By making
estrogen inactive, resveratrol decreases the
associated risk.
The current study was
conducted in laboratory cultures, and will
need to be confirmed in larger human trials,
Rogan said.
The mission of the American
Association for Cancer Research is to
prevent and cure cancer.
Founded in 1907, AACR
is the world’s oldest and largest
professional organization dedicated to
advancing cancer research.
The membership includes more
than 28,000 basic, translational and
clinical researchers; health care
professionals; and cancer survivors and
advocates in the United States and 80 other
countries.
AACR marshals the full
spectrum of expertise from the cancer
community to accelerate progress in the
prevention, diagnosis and treatment of
cancer through high-quality scientific and
educational programs.
It funds innovative,
meritorious research grants. The AACR Annual
Meeting attracts more than 17,000
participants who share the latest
discoveries and developments in the field.
Special conferences
throughout the year present novel data
across a wide variety of topics in cancer
research, treatment and patient care. AACR
publishes five major peer-reviewed journals:
Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research;
Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular
Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology,
Biomarkers & Prevention.
Its most recent publication
and its sixth major journal, Cancer
Prevention Research, is dedicated
exclusively to cancer prevention, from
preclinical research to clinical trials.
The AACR also publishes CR, a
magazine for cancer survivors and their
families, patient advocates, physicians and
scientists. CR provides a forum for sharing
essential, evidence-based information and
perspectives on progress in cancer research,
survivorship and advocacy.
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