Background: The prognosis of neuroblastoma patients remains unsatisfactory. Therefore, developing an effective treatment strategy is important. Resveratrol, a natural polyphenol, possesses chemopreventive and antitumor effects. We investigated the effects of resveratrol on the proliferation, apoptosis, and cell cycle alteration of neuroblastoma cells and determined its effects on neuroblastoma tumors in mice.
Methods: Cytotoxic effects, cellular apoptosis, and alterations in the cell cycle were determined in neuro-2a neuroblastoma cells exposed for varying lengths of time to a series of resveratrol concentrations. Expression of associated cell cycle regulatory proteins, cyclin E and p21, was detected by Western blot analysis, and the antitumor effects of resveratrol were investigated by treating subcutaneous neuroblastoma tumors with intraperitoneal injections of 40 mg/kg resveratrol daily for 28 days.
Results: Resveratrol exerted cytotoxic effects on neuroblastoma cells. After resveratrol treatment, the apoptosis rate of the neuroblastoma cells significantly increased, a significant accumulation of cells occurred at the S phase of the cell cycle, p21 was downregulated, and cyclin E was upregulated. In addition, resveratrol treatment suppressed the growth rate of subcutaneous neuroblastomas, resulting in 70% long-term survival.
Conclusion: Resveratrol caused significant cytotoxicity and increased apoptosis and S-phase accumulation of neuroblastoma cells. S-phase accumulation was related to the down-regulation of p21 and up-regulation of cyclin E. In addition, resveratrol exerted antitumor effects on neuroblastomas in mice. Thus, resveratrol shows promise for the treatment of neuroblastoma.