Resveratrol Helps Chemo Drug Fight Liver Cancer Cells
Doctors Z.J. Sun, H.S. Liu, and G.J. Wang published a study in 2002 that examined the anti-tumor effect of resveratrol, a red wine ingredient, and the effects of resveratrol with an anti-cancer chemotherapy drug on the growth of liver cancer cells.
The doctors, from the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery at the First Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, China, tested their theory in a controlled environment. The doctors wanted to see if resveratrol and an anti-cancer chemotherapy drug could work together to produce an outcome on the liver cancer cells that couldn’t have been reached with either agent alone.
The study shows that red wine resveratrol did restrict the growth of liver cancer cells. The doctors also found that the combined anti-tumor effects of resveratrol and the chemotherapy drug were greater than the effects of liver cancer cells treated with only the chemo drug.
Overall, resveratrol supplements can suppress the growth of liver cancer cells in a controlled laboratory-testing environment. Also, resveratrol’s anti-tumor activity may occur through the initial processes of programmed cell death, where younger cells replace old cells.