30 September 2011
An ingredient present in red wine could reduce breast cancer growth, new research shows.
Published in the FASEB Journal, a study has found that the ingredient resveratrol could help to block certain breast cancer receptors by stopping the growth effects of oestrogen.
A team of American and Italian scientists from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology found that this "healthy" ingredient in red wine could have significant effects on the treatment of breast cancer, the tumours of which often develop resistance to hormonal therapy.
Sebastiano Ando, a researcher involved in the work from the faculty of pharmacy at the University of Calabria in Italy, said: "Resveratrol is a potential pharmacological tool to be exploited when breast cancer become resistant to the hormonal therapy."
Researchers treated breast cancer cells with the ingredient to see whether the oestrogen receptor was affected. Cells treated with it saw a reduction, whereas no changes were seen in untreated cells.
Numerous studies have suggested that moderate alcohol drinking also helps to reduce the likelihood of heart disease.
Posted by Jeanette Royston
Ando, Sebastiano, et al., "Resveratrol, through NF-Y/p53/Sin3/HDAC1 complex phosphorylation, inhibits estrogen receptor α gene expression via p38MAPK/CK2 signaling in human breast cancer cells", FASEB, July 7th 2011.
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