The researchers made a surprising discovery related to red wine. Besides many known benefits, it can significantly contribute to cure a serious disease. The red wine might be a key element in the fight against prostate cancer, thanks to a compound that causes tumors to become more sensitive to the radiation.
Resveratrol, a compound naturally produced in the skin of grapes and in red wine, has several benefits to human health, proving to be an ally of heart health and preventing stroke, informs dailymail.co.uk. Researchers at the University of Missouri in the United States have found that this compound causes tumors to become more sensitive – and therefore more easily destroyed – to radiotherapy.
“Other studies have shown that resveratrol causes tumors to become more sensitive to chemotherapy, and we wanted to know whether this compound has the same effect on the radiation therapy,” said Professor Michael Nicholl, who led the study. “We found that when exposed to resveratrol, the tumor cells became more sensitive to radiation therapy,” he added.
A previous study has shown that a glass of red wine a day increases the chances of survival for women suffering from breast cancer by 20%. The discovery is more surprising, as the alcohol is considered one of the main causes of breast cancer in healthy women. One possible explanation is that the chemicals in alcohol, which destroy healthy cells have the same effect on cancer cells.
In the study conducted by researchers at the University of Missouri, resveratrol increased levels of two key proteins in the structure of tumor cells in the prostate. After radiotherapy, up to 97% of tumor cells were destroyed, and this percentage is much higher than that obtained with radiotherapy only. Resveratrol is present in the skin of grapes and in red wine. However, the dose of resveratrol needed for this substance takes effect on tumor cells is now so great that many patients may experience unpleasant side effects.
“We do not need a high dose to the tumor, but the body processes the substance so effective that the patient must ingest much resveratrol to ensure that a sufficient quantity of this substance reaches the place where the tumor is located. Due to this challenge, we must consider other ways to “deliver” the compound, for it to be effective,” explained Professor Nicholl. The next step will be to test the procedure on animals, before a series of clinical trials can be initiated.
But initial results of this study, published in the Journal of Andrology and Cancer Science, are promising and if future studies will be successful in the coming years, U.S. health officials will require the federal government to start the manufacture of a drug that could be used on humans.
Reply