Resveratrol Combats Bone Marrow Cancer, Alzheimer's Disease

Resveratrol Combats Bone Marrow Cancer, Alzheimer'sDisease

ODENSE, Denmark & MANHASSET, N.Y.--Twoseparate, recently published studies revealed resveratrol, a polyphenol foundmost notably in grapes and red wine, can help thwart bone marrow cancer myeloma,as well as degrade certain peptides crucial to development of plaques associatedwith Alzheimers disease.

Published in the Nov. 1 issue of CancerResearch (65:9943-52, 2005), the firststudy investigated the effects of resveratrol on multiple myeloma--accumulationsof malignant plasma cells in bone marrow--as well as on osteoblasts (bonemakers) and osteoclasts (bone destroyers), which determine the bone environmentthat factors in the survival of malignancy. The Dutch researchers foundresveratrol (trans-3,4,5-trihydroxystilbene) dose-dependently reduced thegrowth of myeloma cell lines (RPMI 8226 and OPM-2) via a cell apoptosismechanism. Their in vitro study of resveratrol on human monocytes further showedinhibition of bone resorption by osteoclasts, while promoting expression ofosteoblast markers, such as osteocalcin and osteopontin, in human bone marrowstem cells. They concluded resveratrol has potential to help treat multiplemyeloma.

The second study, published in the Nov. 11 issue of the Journalof Biological Chemistry (45:37377-82,2005), investigated the mechanisms behind red wines epidemiologicalassociation with decreased incidence of Alzheimers. Scientists from theLitwin-Zucker Research Center for the Study of Alzheimer's Disease and MemoryDisorders found resveratrol markedly lowered levels of secreted andintracellular beta-amyloid peptides, which can form amyloid oligmers and disruptneuronal function. However, they further discovered resveratrol did not inhibitproduction of these dangerous peptides, but instead promoted intracellulardegradation of the peptides via a mechanism involving proteasome--a largeprotein complex that can degrade other proteins. The researchers concludedresveratrol has a proteasome-dependent, anti-amyloidogenic mechanism of actionthat indicates therapeutic potential in Alzheimer's disease.