Modulation of ionizing radiation-induced damage in human blood lymphocytes by in vivo treatment with resveratrol

Purpose: Radiotherapy is an effective tool for cancer control, but side effects on normal tissue limit its therapeutic effectiveness. Thus, the search for agents that may allow the use of high doses of radiation but exerting a differential protection to healthy tissue is of current concern. Resveratrol (3,5,4 '-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene) (RSV) is a polyphenol with pleiotropic benefits for health due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Recent findings suggest that RSV could be promising in the fight against cancer since it inhibits the growth of tumor cells and optimizes radiotherapy. However, evidence in rodents and human beings is inconsistent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the radiomodulatory capacity of RSV on human lymphocytes. Materials and methods: To study these properties of RSV, human peripheral blood lymphocytes from 20 healthy women undergoing in vivo RSV treatment with 50 mg/day doses were irradiated. The genotoxic damage was assessed by the comet assay, also called single cell gel electrophoresis (it makes it possible to measure the extent of the DNA migration from individual cells, detecting the genomic damage present in each cell). Results: No differences were observed in basal clastogenic damage among samples without irradiation. There was only a slight radiation-induced clastogenic damage. The damage index (DI) value had a statistically significant increase in the exposed groups in comparison with the control groups (p < .0001), but a statistically significant decrease of the DI value was observed in samples irradiated after treatment with RSV compared to pretreatment samples (p < .0001). Conclusion: The RSV used as a dietary supplement had radioprotective properties, without exerting a cytotoxic effect. The potential utility of RSV to optimize the radiotherapeutic ratio in cancer treatments using radiotherapy should be considered.