The effect of red wine and its components on growth and proliferation of human oral squamous carcinoma cells.

Epidemiologic evidence indicates that red wine may contain phenolic compounds which protect against heart disease and cancer. Resveratrol and quercetin are wine phenolics which possess antioxidant and antimutagenic effects. Resveratrol at 10 and 100 microM induced significant dose-dependent inhibition in human oral squamous carcinoma cell (SCC-25) growth and DNA synthesis. Quercetin exhibited a biphasic effect, stimulation at 1.0 and 10 microM and minimal inhibition at 100 microM in cell growth and DNA synthesis. Combining 50 microM of resveratrol with 10, 25 and 50 microM of quercetin resulted in gradual and significant increase in the inhibitory effect of the two compounds. Diluted red wine which contained only 1.6 microM of each of resveratrol and quercetin had significantly more inhibitory effect on cell growth, DNA synthesis and changes in cell morphology than each compound alone or in combination. We conclude that: (i) Resveratrol by itself or a combination of resveratrol and quercetin are effective inhibitors of SCC-25 growth and DNA synthesis. (ii) The presence of other wine phenolic phytochemicals enhance significantly the effect of resveratrol and quercetin on inhibition of cancer cell growth and DNA synthesis.