Grape extract offers possible cancer treatment

Researchers have found that a grape skin extract plays a key role in fighting prostate cancer. This muscadine grape skin extract (MSKE), though, does not contain significant concentrations of resveratrol, an active ingredient in other grapes that investigators have focused on as a potential weapon against cancer. Instead, MSKE triggers apoptosis, or cell death in prostate cancer cells. Resveratrol, though, blocks the growth and division of cells. Both are considered key approaches to fighting cancer.

"These results show that MSKE may have potent antitumor activities in the lab that differ from the effects of resveratrol," says Jeffrey E. Green, M.D., chief of the Transgenic Oncogenesis and Genomics Section in NCI's Center for Cancer Research. "Further studies of MSKE will be necessary to determine if this extract has potential as a chemopreventive or therapeutic agent."

- here's the report from eMaxHealth