Chemopreventive agent resveratrol, a natural product derived from grapes, reversibly inhibits progression through S and G2 phases of the cell cycle in U937 cells.

Resveratrol, a natural product derived from grapes, has been shown to prevent carcinogenesis in murine models. We report here that resveratrol induces antiproliferation and arrests the S phase in human histiocytic lymphoma U937 cells. Resveratrol induces arrest in the S phase at low concentrations (30-60 microM), but high concentrations do not induce S phase accumulation in U937 cells. Removal of resveratrol from the culture medium stimulates U937 cells to reenter the cell cycle synchronously, as judged by the expression patterns of cyclin E, A and by fluorescent activated cell sorting analysis. These data demonstrate that resveratrol causes S phase arrest and reversible cell cycle arrest. Thus, resveratrol provides an important new cell cycle blocker as well as a cancer chemopreventive agent.

Bcl-2 overexpression attenuates resveratrol-induced apoptosis in U937 cells by inhibition of caspase-3 activity.

Resveratrol has been shown to induce anti-proliferation and apoptosis of human cancer cell lines. In the present study, we determined the effect of high intracellular levels of the anti-apoptosis protein Bcl-2 on caspase-3 activation, PLC-gamma1 degradation and cytochrome c release during resveratrol-induced apoptosis. For this, we used U937/vector and U937/Bcl-2 cells, which were generated by transfection of the cDNA of the Bcl-2 gene. As compared with U937/vector, U937/Bcl-2 cells exhibited a 4-fold greater expression of Bcl-2. Treatment with 60 or 100 microM resveratrol for 24 h produced morphological features of apoptosis and DNA fragmentation in U937/vector cells, respectively. This was associated with caspase-3 activation and PLC-gamma1 degradation. In contrast, resveratrol-induced caspase-3 activation and PLC-gamma1 degradation and apoptosis were significantly inhibited in U937/Bcl-2 cells. Bcl-2 overexpressing cells exhibited less cytochrome c release and sustained expression levels of the IAP proteins during resveratrol-induced apoptosis. In addition, these findings indicate that Bcl-2 inhibits resveratrol-induced apoptosis by a mechanism that interferes with cytochrome c release and activity of caspase-3 that is involved in the execution of apoptosis.