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A Protective Synergy TO JA IR A M K .P. VA NA M A L A , PhD, A ssociate Professor of Food Science at Penn State College of A g ricultura l Sciences a nd facult y member of Penn State Hershey Ca ncer Institute a nd Penn State Center for Molecula r Immunolog y a nd Infectious Disease, the f inding that a combination of g rape seed ex tract a nd resveratrol kills colorecta l ca ncer stem cells with rema rkable effectiveness is fur ther evidence that societies that follow pla nt-based diets protect themselves aga inst colorecta l ca ncer. "A pla nt-based diet that is structured so the per- son is getting ... different pa r ts of the pla nt, colors of the pla nt, t y pes of pla nt — this shotg un approach to ta rgeting ca ncer stem cells ... ma kes log ica l sense based on what we a re seeing," Va na ma la says. To truly understa nd how pla nt compounds g ua rd aga inst colorecta l ca ncer, resea rchers will need to study how they interact with the bacteria a nd cells of the intestines, Va na ma la says. In the mea ntime, he recommends that clinicia ns offer patients a simple piece of advice: Eat a diverse a rray of color- ful fruits a nd vegetables. levels of tumor suppression by GSE/resveratrol and sulindac, but also by the precision with which the grape compounds attacked the cancer stem cells. "In the cell cultures and the animal models, the grape com- pounds were not targeting the normal stem cells," says Jairam K.P. Vanamala, PhD, an author of the study, Associate Professor of Food Science at Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, and faculty member of Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute and Penn State Center for Molecular Immunology and Infectious Disease. "Instead, they were going after the cancer stem cells. We were excited to see that selectivity of the natural compounds compared to sulindac." NEXT STEPS Vanamala and his colleagues will continue to investigate GSE and resveratrol to pinpoint their mechanisms of action. A key clue, he says, could be that when the researchers added an antioxidant to the cell culture, the e ect of the grape compounds in promoting apoptosis of cancer stem cells disappeared. A researcher who was not involved with the study, Molly Millett, PhD, Clinical Evaluation Specialist at Colorado-based biotechnology company Terumo BCT, notes that GSE and resveratrol are composed of multiple compounds that can act against many of the proteins involved with the dysregulated pathways of cancer cells. "Because of resveratrol/GSE's ability to ta rget multiple protei ns, t h is prevent s t he ca ncer cel ls f rom becom i n g treatment-resistant," Millett says. " Vanama la's study dem- onstrated resveratrol/GSE's ability to be eª cacious with or without the p53 [tumor suppressor] protein. In addition, studies have been done examining the eª cacy of individual compounds contained in GSE, and no single agent is as e ective as GSE's complex mi x ture. W hat rema ins is to study the e ects of resveratrol/GSE within the human population, specifi ca lly for the prevention and treatment of colorecta l cancer." Reddivari agrees, at least with regard to the prevention aspect. "I can comfortably say [GSE and resveratrol] have promise as a cancer prevention strategy," she says. "Our focus is mainly prevention. However, GSE and resveratrol maybe could be applied in ca ses of recur rence a f ter patients have gone through chemotherapy." ■ SPECIAL CLINICAL SECTION: GASTROENTEROLOGY 2 3 M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S L O N G I S L A N D ■ 2 017