By Sean Henahan, Access Excellence

Champagne vs. Cancer?
Chicago, IL (Jan. 1997) Wine drinkers are toasting a new finding suggesting an anticancer effect for a compound found in wine and grapes.

The discovery was made by University of Illinois at Chicago researchers involved in a project to test plants from around the world for their ability to prevent cancer. The research revealed that a substance called reservatrol appears to prevent cancer in laboratory animals.

The testing began with a compound extracted from a legume (Cassia quinquangulata) collected in Peru. After the compound showed promise in early tests, researchers isolated and identified the active agent as reservatrol.

"The big surprise was reservatrol, because it occurs in more than 70 plants, including several that are found in the human diet," said lead investigator John Pezzuto, director of the program for collaborative research in UIC's College of Pharmacy. "Of all the plants we've tested for cancer chemopreventive activity, and all the compounds we've seen, this one has the greatest promise."

Grapes are a prime source of reservatrol. Smaller but appreciable concentrations of the compound are found in red, white and rose wines, with the highest levels in red wine. Health benefits have previously been associated with moderate levels of wine consumption, particularly in terms of reduced risk of heart attack. Other natural sources high in reservatrol include mulberries and peanuts.

The researchers discovered reservatrol's ability to inhibit cancer progression by treating human cancer cells (promyelocytic leukemia) with the compound. The diseased cells reverted to normal cells after treatment with reservatrol. In animal studies involving tumor-bearing mice, reservatrol proved effective against three major stages of cancer development: initiation (DNA in a cell is mutated), promotion (the affected cell becomes a cancer cell) and progression (cancer cells form a tumor and spread). Tests showed that reservatrol is an effective anti-inflammatory agent and inhibitor of cyclooxygenase, which plays a key role in tumor cell growth.

"What's unusual is that anti-inflammatory agents often are solely anti-tumor promoters. Reservatrol has the added benefit of demonstrating anti-initiation and anti-progression activity," Pezzuto said.

Preliminary results also indicate the substance is free of the kind of toxic side effects often encountered with anti-cancer compounds.

"Toxicity usually is a problem with any agent that shows an effect, but with reservatrol there was strong activity with no signs of toxicity," Pezzuto said.

Human clinical studies are needed to determine if reservatrol can prevent cancer in humans, but researchers elsewhere have conducted studies showing that reservatrol can affect human metabolism.

"That's one step beyond what we know about many other compounds," Pezzuto said.

Should reservatrol prove safe and effective in humans, Pezzuto said, its abundance in nature would likely make it an affordable cancer prevention agent.

The research was featured in Science magazine, Jan. 9, 1997.