Resveratrol may help prevent breast cancer

OMAHA, July 7 (UPI) -- Laboratory research shows that resveratrol suppresses the abnormal cell formation that leads to most types of breast cancer, U.S. researchers say.

Lead author Eleanor G. Rogan, a professor in the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and colleagues measured the effect of resveratrol -- found in red wine and grape juice -- on cellular functions known to contribute to breast cancer.

The researchers found that resveratrol suppressed the expression of CYP1B1 and the formation of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, two known risk factors for breast cancer.

"Resveratrol has the ability to prevent the first step that occurs when estrogen starts the process that leads to cancer by blocking the formation of the estrogen DNA adducts," Rogan said in a statement.

The current study was conducted in laboratory cultures, and will need to be confirmed in larger human trials, Rogan said.

The study is published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.