Effect of resveratrol on cell cycle proteins in murine transplantable liver cancer.

Aim: To study the antitumour activity of resveratrol and its effect on the expression of cell cycle proteins including cyclin D1, cyclin B1 and p34cdc2 in transplanted liver cancer of murine.

Methods: Murine transplanted hepatoma H22 model was used to evaluate the in vivo antitumor activity of resveratrol. Following abdominal administration of resveratrol, the change in tumour size was recorded and the protein expression of cyclin D1, cyclin B1 and p34cdc2 in the tumor and adjacent noncancerous liver tissues were measured by immunohistochemistry.

Results: Following treatment of H22 tumour bearing mice with resveratrol at 10 or 15 mg/kg bodyweight for 10 days, the growth of murine transplantable liver cancer was inhibited by 36.3% or 49.3%, respectively. The inhibitory effect was significant compared to that in control group (P<0.05). The level of expression of cyclin B1 and p34cdc2 protein was decreased in the transplantable murine hepatoma 22 treated with resveratrol whereas the expression of cyclin D1 protein did not change.

Conclusion: Resveratrol exhibits anti-tumour activities on murine hepatoma H22. The underlying anti-tumour mechanism of resveratrol might involve the inhibition of the cell cycle progression by decreasing the expression of cyclinB1 and p34cdc2 protein.