Although experts have known for years that drinking red wine in moderation has health benefits, last month University researchers pinpointed one specific reason why that is.
Marty Mayo, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics, and his U.Va. research team of five people have been analyzing a compound -- called resveratrol and commonly found in grape skins -- for the past year and a half in order to determine how exactly it attacks cancer cells.
"What resveratrol does is it removes these marks, or particular sites, in the protein and these marks are required for transcription, the process of making gene products that cancer cells like," Mayo said. "[This] slows the process that cancer cells need to survive."
The National Cancer Institute Web site states that red wine is a rich source of biologically active phytochemicals, which are chemicals found in plants. Some of these compounds, including resveratrol, theoretically have anti-oxidant or anti-cancer properties.
Mayo said resveratrol is not just found in red wine, however, and should not be used as an excuse to drink in excess.
"Too much wine or alcohol has ill effects, so you should drink it in moderation," Mayo said. "You don't need a lot of resveratrol to get the beneficial effects."
He added that resveratrol is available in a dietary supplement form but the effectiveness of the pill form as opposed to its pure form is still unknown.
Mayo's post-doctoral student, Fan Yeung, published their findings in the online May 20 edition of the Journal of the European Molecular Biology Organization.
Resveratrol attacks the protein, NF-kB, which is "responsible for upregulating gene products that control cell survival," according to the abstract of Yeung's article.
"Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) controls the expression of gene products that affect important cellular processes, such as adhesion, cell cycle, angiogenesis, and apoptosis," the study stated.
Yeung said she did not know if resveratrol worked better on some types of cancers than others, but researchers suspect that it would work better on late-stage cancers.
"We tested lung cancer and prostrate cancer," Yeung said. "Resveratrol worked on the lung cancer cells pretty well."
According to the U.Va. Health System press release, the National Cancer Institute and the Paul Mellon Prostate Cancer Institute sponsored Mayo's research on resveratrol with several grants. Mayo added that he will continue to work with resveratrol since their in vitro study was just the first stage of trials needed in order to determine the beneficial effects of the compound.
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