Oct 18: Scientists at University of Geneva, Switzerland (UNIGE) have discovered that Resveratrol, the grape constituent in red wine protects against lung cancer when administered to mice through the nasal route by inhaling and could well work on humans, since ingested Resveratrol can't reach the lungs and by sniffing it instead, your Resveratrol concentration can be 22 times more, according to the Study announced through a Press Release
The Study showed positive results in using inhaled Resveratrol to fight lung cancer in mice. “We observed a 45% decrease in tumour load per mouse in the treated mice. They developed fewer tumours, smaller sized than untreated mice,” researcher Muriel Cuendet, Associate Professor in the School of pharmaceutical sciences of the UNIGE Faculty of Science, said in a statement. When comparing the two groups that were not exposed to carcinogens, 63% of the mice treated did not develop cancer, compared to only 12.5% of the untreated mice. “Resveratrol could therefore play a preventive role against lung cancer,” she says.
While its chemo-preventive properties against cancers affecting the digestive tract have been documented by previous studies, Resveratrol has so far shown no effect on lung cancers. Thanks to nasal administration, the UNIGE team obtained very promising results in a study conducted in mice and described in the journal Scientific Reports.
The 26- week long study contained four groups of mice. The first one in the control group, received neither carcinogen nor Resveratrol treatment. The second group received only the carcinogen, the third received both the carcinogen and the treatment, and the fourth received only the treatment. When comparing the two groups that were not exposed to carcinogen, 63% of the mice treated did not develop cancer, compared to only 12.5% of the untreated mice. “Resveratrol could therefore play a preventive role against lung cancer,” she claims.
Applicable to humans too
‘Resveratrol is not normally suitable for preventing lung cancer: when ingested, it is metabolized and eliminated within minutes, and therefore does not have time to reach the lungs. This is why our challenge was to find a formulation in which Resveratrol could be soluble in large quantities, even though it is poorly soluble in water, in order to allow nasal administration.”
The UNIGE research team will now focus on finding a biomarker that could contribute to the selection of people eligible for preventive treatment with Resveratrol.
Towards a preventive treatment?
This discovery is unfortunately of little economic interest to pharmaceutical groups. The molecule is indeed simple and non-patentable and cancer prevention studies require a follow-up over many years,’ regrets Muriel Cuendet, without excluding the development of preventive treatment in humans.
The Study could give impetus to nosing the red wine more by red wine drinkers-especially the perfumed wines. Even if there are no proven benefits at this stage, the perfumed wines would score better for wine drinkers-especially the smokers-and in the end even if it is proven otherwise in future-you would have become a better taster- 30% of the character of wine is in the nose-editor
If you Like this article please click on the Like button