A decade ago, Dr. Eleanor G. Rogan and her team of researchers at the University of Nebraska demonstrated that resveratrol could block the first step in the process that leads to breast cancer. Since then, researchers have been using this information and searching related compounds for clues about how to fight plural mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is usually caused by exposure to asbestos and it afflicts nearly 3,000 people in the United States every year.
Pterostilbene is the red wine compound in resveratrol that researchers isolated and found as having the potential to fight cancers. Researchers at the Fourth Military Medical University in China studied the effects of pterostilbene on non-small cell lung cancer tumors. They noted natural cell death in two lines of the cancers. As with many of the current promising treatments, the researchers found that the cell deaths occurred because of the breakdown of cancer-protective proteins.
Because many small-cell lung cancers resemble pleural mesothelioma in many ways, most research in one area is duplicated in the other. The success with pterostilbene already has mesothelioma researchers looking at ways to extend the research into their labs.
In addition, researchers in Italy have already hinted at the possibility of tying genetic cancer research to the chemical. In 2016 Korean researchers combined cisplatin with resveratrol and destroyed mesothelioma cells in a controlled lab experiment. Cisplatin is a platinum-based chemotherapy drug.
If you or someone you love has been impacted by mesothelioma, contact a Philadelphia mesothelioma lawyer at Brookman, Rosenberg, Brown & Sandler. To set up an initial consultation, complete our online form or call 215-569-4000 or 800-369-0899. For more than three decades we have served the people of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey as well as Delaware County, Chester County, and Philadelphia County.