Resveratrol Investigated as Treatment for Neuroblastoma & Ocular/Uveal Melanoma

Resveratrol is being proposed for clinical trials against neuroblastoma. A team led by Arthur Polans, PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, part of the University of Washington Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been studying the substance for about five years, using it successfully to treat several types of cancer in mice. The group has now applied for permission to use it to treat neuroblastoma.

Resveratrol is a promising treatment for young children because it's not toxic to healthy cells, only to cancer cells, Dr. Polans said in a news release. How do you treat infants without causing other problems in the years to come? That is the kind of question that intrigues us.

In addition, because resveratrol seems to kill cancer kills while leaving healthy tissue alone, it is also being looked at to treat ocular or uveal melanoma, which typically stays dormant for many years before metastasizing.

It's one of those rotten cancers, Dr. Polans said. We don't know what causes it and we don't know how to treat it effectively. While the cancers are very different, adults who develop melanoma of the eye have something in common with babies who develop neuroblastoma-they may live for a long time after their diagnosis, so potential treatments shouldn't cause other health problems.

What neuroblastoma and uveal melanoma have in common is the factor of time. Ideally, you'd like to be able to treat them aggressively at first, and then treat them with lower doses of a non-toxic compound over time. Otherwise, you run the risk of damage to vital organs or an increase in secondary tumors.

So far, his group has shown that resveratrol shrinks tumors and kills malignant cells in five types of cancer: melanoma, breast cancer, neuroblastoma, ocular melanoma, and retinoblastoma.

Mice that were treated with resveratrol are healthy, gain weight, and don't seem to have side effects, he said, but when you look at the cancer cells, they're dying.

In basic research on resveratrol, his group has developed new forms that are more potent and that are active in the body for longer periods than the common form of the substance.

Source: www.oncology-times.com