CANCER (Colon, Breast, Prostate, Lymphoid, Myeloid, and more)

Thank you once again for joining us in our ongoing review of medical articles regarding resveratrol.  This month we are going to concentrate on 3 review articles on cancer and the ongoing research with resveratrol.  Something new to this blog is the PMID number at the end of each article.  If you go to www.pubmed.com you  will be able to put the number into the search block which will then take you to that specific article.

Cancer.   From the University of Wisconsin in Madison comes an article on cancer prevention.  For cancer of the lung, colon, breast or prostate, the outlook for patient in whom the cancer has already spread is grim.  There are four cancers in this country that account for more than half of all cancer deaths in the United States.  One alternative to dealing with metastatic cancer is to prevent them altogether.  They review the use of non-toxic agents as to prevent the cancers.  They then concentrate on resveratrol and its proven ability to protect against several cancer types.  This paper breaks down the research for each of the different cancers.  The authors then urge more human trials for cancer prevention by resveratrol.  PMID 12792772

Cancer.  From M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston comes an article on the prevention and treatment of cancer, concentrating on resveratrol.  Many articles in medical journals shows  the anticancer properties of resveratrol against lymphoid and myeloid cancers, multiple myeloma, cancers of the breast, prostate, stomach, colon, pancreas, and thyroid, melanoma, head and neck cancers.,  ovarian cancer and cervical cancer.  They aid in stopping cell division of the cancer cells and block the in- growth of new blood vessels to supply increased blood flow to the cancer cells.  This occurs at many different steps in a series of chemical reactions and results in both prevention and therapy against many cancers.  The few human studies that have been done show that resveratrol is safe.  To date, the bulk of research has been done in either lab animals or cell cultures and is promising.  PMID15517885

Cancer.  Also from the University of Wisconsin is an article on the use of resveratrol in combination with traditional chemotherapy agents.  They review several articles showing both the preventative effect and a therapeutic effect of resveratrol against certain cancers.  They also reviewed recent publications suggesting how useful resveratrol is when given in combination with chemotherapy agents.  They have an additive effect resulting in a decrease in the dose of chemotherapy.  This results in decreased side effects and decreased toxicity along with increased effectiveness.  PMID 23855473

Hopefully you find these articles as interesting and useful as I did.  The use of the new p.m. PMID numbers should be of value as well.  Until next month.

Dr Bob

BREAST CANCER

Breast Cancer

#1  Breast cancer  A study from the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore looked at mice who were given resveratrol and then implanted with breast cancer cells.  When compared with the mice not given resveratrol, the study group had a dramatic decrease in the amount of spread of cancer cells to the lungs.  This was done at low doses and could benefit breast cancer patients.

J Immunol 2013 Oct 15: 4141-4151 

#2  Breast cancer  This study from Mexico City looked at breast cancer cells in cell cultures.  These cells were exposed to doxorubicin which is one of the more effective chemotherapy agents against breast cancer.  Half of the cells were previously exposed to resveratrol.  The presence of resveratrol prior to exposure to doxorubicin enhanced the ability of the drug to kill the cancer cells.  Further studies are looking at using resveratrol clinically prior to or with exposure to doxorubicin in breast cancer patients.  PLoS 2013 May 27

#3 Breast cancer Another study on breast cancer comes from Saudi Arabia and is also looking at doxorubicin in the treatment of breast cancer.  This also was a study using cancer cells in cell cultures.  Despite the fact that this is a good drug for breast cancer, one of the major side effects is damage to the heart muscle.  This can limit the use of the drug.  This study was looking at combining resveratrol which increases the ability to kill cancer cells with lower doses of the doxorubicin.  This in turn would lower the potential damage to heart muscle cells without compromising the effect on the cancer cells, making the drug safer and at least as effective.

Cancer Cell Int 2012 Nov 16 

 #4  Breast cancer  A study from the University of Oklahoma is looking at the use of resveratrol in combination with radiation therapy for breast cancer.  Radiation along with chemotherapy and surgery are the three cornerstones of treatment for breast cancer.  The use of radiation can be limited because of side effects from the amount of radiation needed to cause cell deaths.  In the study,  cancer cells in cell cultures were divided in half and half were given resveratrol in advance.  All of the cells were then exposed to radiation.  The resveratrol resulted in sensitizing the cancer cells to radiation resulting in a much more effective induction of cell death in those cells pretreated with resveratrol, making radiation more effective and safer.

Radiat Oncol 2013, Mar 4

  Thank You, 

   Bob Biggers MD 

COLON CANCER

Colon Cancer

From the American University of Beirut Medical Center comes a study on colon cancer.  Colon cancer is one of the cancers that has a step wise development from normal tissue to benign adenomas to colon cancer.  Several factors have been identified in this step- wise process, including Cox-2.  Cox-2 inhibitors can prevent the formation of colon adenomas and subsequent progression into cancer of the colon.  The drugs which can inhibit Cox-2 have toxicity and are not safe.  Resveratrol is a preventive agent that is able to block the pathways in the production of benign colon tumors and subsequent colon cancer making it an attractive candidate for further research. Int J Mol Sci  Aug 2013, 1107

Colon Cancer

From Gifu University in Japan comes a study of colon cancer cells growing in and studied in cell media.  These cells were resistant to the chemotherapy agent 5-FU but when mixed with resveratrol, cell growth was stopped.  This is yet another study where Resveratrol can sensitize cancer cells to standard chemotherapy drugs, exerting an anticancer activity safely by slowing their growth and speeding up the time to natural cancer cell death.

J Nutr Biochem Aug 2013

To Healthy Living...Dr. Bob Biggers

HUMAN STUDIES ON WEIGHT, OBESITY, HEART DISEASE AND LUNG CANCER

Welcome back to my blog on resveratrol.  As we had discussed in the past most of the research has been done either in the lab in the last issues with cells and cell cultures or a lap band moles.  Recently there has been an increase in human research and there are 4 separate review articles published recently in the medical journals based on human research.  I would like to do a quick review of this group of articles.  It is encouraging that more research is currently being done on clinical conditions in people.

The first article is from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and is regarding the health benefits of resveratrol and obesity and adult onset diabetes.  Rodent studies in the past have shown that resveratrol does improve a variety of metabolic problems.  The authors have a short review of those recent articles currently available which examined the beneficial effects of resveratrol on obesity and type 2 diabetes in humans.  Ann N Y  Acad Sci July 2013: 83-9

A second article comes from Denmark looking at an overview of the treatment of metabolic diseases and obesity.  Resveratrol promotes longevity in a variety of species and protects against diet-induced metabolic abnormalities in rodents.  This report is a review article giving a brief overview on the future scientific directions of resveratrol research in humans.  Ann N Y  Acad Sci July 2013: 74-82

A third article from the same Journal comes from a research group in Spain.  They are looking at both primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.  Primary prevention would be avoiding a first event in patients not yet diagnosed with heart disease.  Secondary prevention would be to avoid new events in patients who have established heart disease.  The researchers are looking at the Cardio- protective effects of resveratrol.  They reviewed studies done in humans at risk for cardiovascular disease and focused on the two longest human trials each with one year of follow up.  There was a statistically significant change in the cardiovascular risk markers in patients on resveratrol. Ann N Y Acad Sci July 2013: 37-51

The final article is on the management of human cancer using resveratrol.  The strongest research has been in the prevention of cancer in the presence of chemicals that caused the cancer to develop, called carcinogens.  Resveratrol is being studied for both the prevention and treatment of a variety of cancers.  This is something that is safe with minimal toxicity and readily available.  This article reviews the studies done on cancer in humans and the role of resveratrol in recent years.  Ann N Y Acad Sci July 2013:  12-20

It is encouraging to see ongoing research both in the pure science realm and in human clinical research.  We are currently looking at the early stages but with a great deal of promise in terms of potential benefit in the future.  Until next time.

                                                                        Dr. Bob

STROKE AND DIABETES

Greetings and welcome back to my Resveratrol based blog.  As you probably know, all of the following information came from published articles from medical journals from around the world.  All are reviewed by experts in that field and approved prior to publication.  They are posted online by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and can be found at www.pubmed.com.  To date there have been 4845 articles published in the medical literature.  This blog will concentrate on D\diabetes and strokes.  A stroke results from loss of blood supply to part of the brain.

STROKE  From the Harvard School of Medicine comes an article on how Resveratrol not only reduces the volume of brain injury after a stroke but also promotes recovery from the stroke.  Testing was done with cell cultures in glass petri dishes.  the presence of Resveratrol in cultures of cells that line arteries induces growth of arteries, a process called angiogenesis.  What this means is that Resveratrol causes a growth of new arteries into areas of damaged brain tissue after a stroke and leads to neurovascular recovery.
Cereb Blood Flow Metab 2012 May pp 884-95

STROKE  From the Medical University of Chongqing, China comes a paper on rats.  Like the previous study, rats were pretreated with Resveratrol.  In this study, ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) was done on rats pre-treated with Resveratrol as well as rats on placebo.  An atery in the brain was clamped (stroke) and the unclamped (treatment for a stroke).  The rats were later killed and their brains were examined.  The Resveratrol treated group had a much smaller volume of damaged brain tissue than the non-Resveratrol group.  Resveratrol pretreatment had a neuroprotective effect on brain injury after a stroke.
Neurochem Res 2011 Dec pp 2352-62

STROKE  As opposed to the previous two papers, researchers at the Ewha Women's University in Seoul, Republic of Korea, published research on Resveratrol given after a stroke.  Mice were given a stroke by clamping off an artery in the brain.  Resveratrol was given to one fourth of the mice 3 hours after the strole.  They were then examined for volume of brain damage compared to the brains of untreated mice at the same point in time.  One fourth of the mice were then given Resveratrol at 6 hours after the stroke, killed and examined and compared to the final one fourth of mice stroked and sacrificed at the same time  In mice treated with Resveratrol at 3 hoursor at 6 hours after a stroke had significantly less loss of brain tissue.  This mmay be due the neuroprotective effectsd of Resveratrol as well as its anti-inflammatory properties.
J Immunol 2010 Oct pp 93-100

DIABETES  A paper from Zanjau University, Iran looked at diabetic versus non-diabetic rats.  A drug called Streptozotocin will damage the pancreas and cause diabetes.  One half of the rats were put on oral Resveratrol and the other half on a placebo.  Half of each of these two groups was the given Steptoztocin, causing diabetes.  This resulted in four groups, normal control, diabetic control, normal with Resveratrol, and diabetic with Resveratrol. The diabetic with Resveratrol group had much less change in the blood sugar than the diabetic control group.  Several other lab values were better in the Resveratrol group.  The conclusion was that chronic Resveratrol administratiion is safe, and may be considered as a beneficial and therapeutic compound in Diabetics.
Endocr Regul 2012 Dec pp 83-90

DIABETES  Researchers at the Kyungpook National University in Taegu, Korea used mice to study the effect of Resveratrol on type 2 diabetes.  In this study using diabetic mice, all animals were fed the same diet.  One third were given a small amount of Resveratrol (.005%), another one third a higher amount of Resveratrol (.02%) and the final third were given an anti-diabetic medication Avandia.  After six weeks, the mice were studied.  Both Resveratrol groups had a lower Hemoglobin A1c and higher insulin levels..  They also had lower triglycerides.  The conclusion was that Resveratrol was more effective than Avandia as a treatment for diabetes.
Neurochem Res 2011 Dec pp 2352-62

DIABETES  From the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology in Hyderabad, India comes a study.  Fructose-fed insulin resistant rats were given either Resveratrol or metformin (Glucophage).  Both groups had a significant normalization of blood sugar, triglycerides and uric acid.  The difference was that the Resveratrol group showed a marked insulin sensitizing action compared to the glucophage group.  The conclusion was that "Resveratrol is more effective than metformin in improving insulin sensitivity."
Pharmacol Res 2012 May

You may have noticed that most of these papers are non-US.  Many parts of the world are more open to non-traditional "natural" approaches to disease.  In the AUS much of the research is funded, right or wrong, by "Big Pharma", and that involves profit motives and government regulation.  Regardless of the source of the research, it looks like Resveratrol, the major ingredient in Shaklee's Vivix, will be around for a long time.

 

LOWERING BODY FAT

Greetings once again to my blog on resveratrol.  Here I review articles published in medical journals on current research into the effects and benefits of resveratrol.

The article for this blog is on Lowering Body Fat, from the Institute of Carlos III in Vitoria, Spain.  There they fed rats a diet designed to promote obesity.  Half the rats were also fed resveratrol and the other rats not for six weeks.  Several chemical changes involved in loss of body fat were measured in muscle tissue and fat tissue.  The resveratrol group had higher levels of chemicals that increase thermogenesis.  This is the production of heat from muscle and fat cells and is involved in fat loss and thus weight loss.  This may be part of the mechanism explaining why rats on high fat diets lose body fat through thermogenesis.  Regardless of the reason, rats on high fat diet and Resveratrol lose weight.
Resveratrol may be something to consider adding to your diet if you are on a weight loss or weight management program.  

Dr. Bob 

Food Chem, 2013 Nov 15  pp 1530

BRAIN PROTECTION

Brain Protective—From India comes a study of diabetic rats who have artificial strokes.  In this group of rats, the carotid artery was clamped on each side for 30 min. thus creating a stroke.  They were then unclamped for 4 hours.  This would be like someone who had been treated for the stroke.  Some of the rats were given resveratrol and the others given nothing.  Blood tests were done on products that escaped into the blood after brain injury.  The Resveratrol  group was given 5, 10, 20 or 30 mg of resveratrol per kilogram of body weight.  There was a dose dependent reduction in the amount of brain damage.  This means the more resveratrol they took,  the less brain damage there was.  Other markers looking at and the anti-inflammation and antioxidation were measured and they were elevated in the resveratrol group indicating the mechanism of action in protecting the brain.  There appears to be a neuroprotective effect against the damages of loss of blood flow  to the brain.

Naunyn Schmiedbergs Arch Pharmachol

Dr. Bob