The effects of the extract of Rubaiyat, an Oklahoma grape variety, and resveratrol on cellular proliferation and apoptosis of MCF-7 human breast cancer cells

Scope and method of study. Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women and ranks second as cause of cancer death in women. Recent data show that some dietary antioxidants may have potential benefits in cancer therapy. Studies show that resveratrol is structurally similar to estrogen and is therefore implicated for use as an anticancer and therapeutic agent in breast cancer. This study compared the effects of the extract of the Rubaiyat grape to that of resveratrol in inhibiting human breast cancer MCF-7 cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis. Rubaiyat grape extract used in this study contains 1141 μg/mL total polyphenol, 620 μg/mL flavonoid, and 66 μg/mL anthocyanin.;Findings and conclusions. Rubaiyat grape extract inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in human MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Since other components are present in the Rubaiyat grape extract, higher concentrations of the extract were needed to inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in this cell line. The anticarcinogenic property of the Rubaiyat grape extract may be attributed in part to the inhibition of Bcl-2 but not Bax. However, these are the only genes that were examined and other genes might be affected more by Rubaiyat grape extract.