ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the action of resveratrol on intracellular targets in a variety of human cancer cell lines as well as in in vivo studies on tumor-bearing animals. It demonstrates resveratrol in the micromolar range of concentration to inhibit proliferation both in estrogen receptor positive (ER) and ER- breast cancer cells. Prostate cancer is frequent among elderly males. A lower incidence of prostate cancer among Asian men is attributed to a diet rich in phytoestrogens that may act as selective estrogen receptor modulators. Many intracellular targets are known to be involved in prostate tumorigenesis and cancer progression. Lung cancer presents four main histological types of cells: adenocarcinoma, squamous or large-cell carcinoma, named nonsmall-cell lung cancer, and small-cell lung cancer. Skin cancer can originate as a multistep process mainly due to repeated ultraviolet exposure, from epithelial cells, and from pigment-producing melanocytes. Thyroid epithelial cancers include carcinomas of follicular cell origin and a rarer medullary thyroid cancer of the parafollicular C cells.
