Selective Cytotoxicity of a Red Grape Wine Flavonoid Fraction Against MCF-7 Cells

Abstract

Red wine is a rich source of polyphenolic components such as anthocyanins and flavonoids. The inhibitory effects of red wine polyphenolics on human breast cancer cells have been demonstrated earlier, but their effects on normal cells have not been fully established. Red wine (Merlot) was fractionated by hydrophobic interaction chromatography and different flavonoid fractions with increasing hydrophobicity were obtained. These fractions were tested for their inhibitory effect on human breast cancer cells (MCF-7), normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC), and a non-tumorigenic MCF-10A cell line. By contrast to the authentic flavonoids such as quercetin, naringenin and catechin which inhibited the growth of HMEC much more than that of MCF-7 cancer cells, a red wine fraction, that was comprised mainly of the flavonoid aglycones, showed maximal inhibition of the growth of breast cancer cells, with relatively low cytotoxicity towards HMEC and MCF-10A cells. In the presence of this flavonoid fraction, the normal cells grew normally, whereas the breast cancer cells underwent a change in morphology into spherical forms. Cytotoxicity analyses suggested that these cells had become apoptotic. The efficiency of inhibition of cell proliferation by various flavonoid fractions appeared to be related to their inhibition of calcium and calmodulin-promoted phosphodiesterase activity, suggesting that flavonoids may interfere with calcium second messenger function. The results suggest that certain grape wine ingredients have anticancer properties and these ingredients may be helpful for developing designer functional foods with cancer-preventive properties.

Potato Antioxidant Compounds: Impact of Cultivation Methods and Relevance for Diet and Health

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Evaluation of hungarian wines for resveratrol by overpressured layer chromatography

“…It has to be pointed out that besides TR, there are other stilbenes [54] and other biologically active components (e.g. flavonoids or terpenoids) [55,56] in red wines responsible for different beneficial effects.…”

Plant-derived anticancer agents: a promising treatment for bone metastasis

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