The basis for the chemopreventive action of resveratrol

The polyphenolic phytoalexin resveratrol (3,5,4'- trihydroxy-trans-stilbene) is produced, perhaps primarily, as a natural fungicide by more than 70 plant species, and can be found in high to moderate quantities in various foods including grapes, peanuts and wine. Recent in vitro and a limited number of in vivo studies have documented that physiological concentrations of resveratrol can modulate multiple molecular pathways thought to be associated with the development and progression of cardiovascular disease and cancer, among them phase II drug metabolizing, cyclooxygenase, lipid metabolizing, nitric oxide, DNA-synthesis, inflammation, cell survival, cell death and cell division cycle pathways. Work on the mechanisms underlying the cytostatic activities, which appear to affect all dividing tissues, and the cytotoxic activities of the compound, which seem to preferentially target tumor cells, has produced some controversial and, at times, seemingly conflicting results. The present review attempts to integrate some of the established biochemical activities of resveratrol into a common framework of function in an attempt to understand precisely how the compound affects cell proliferation and survival.