• Universitat de València
• Universidad Católica de Valencia
• Hospital Quirón
• Hospital Universitario General de Valencia

• María Benlloch García
• Javier Luís Alcácer García
• Concepción Cerdá Micó

Different polyphenols, such as pterostilbene (trans-3,5-dimethoxy-4'-hydroxystilbene; Pter), have been shown to inhibit cancer growth in vivo. Recent studies have tested, both in vitro and in vivo, the anti-tumour effect of Pter, a natural dimethoxylated analogue of resveratrol, but with a longer biological half-life. It was observed that 20 µM Pter, incubated for 24 hours under in vitro culture conditions, decreased tumour cell viability by approximately 30% in human melanoma A375, 40% in human lung cancer A549, 10% in human colon cancer HT-29 and 25% in human breast cancer. However, no significant decrease in cell viability was observed if the incubation time was < 6h. Therefore, the questioning mechanisms aim to explain the inhibition of tumour growth induced in vivo by Pter (or other related molecules), at least under conditions where Pter needs the blood circulation to reach the growing tumour.

Researchers at the Universitat de València have observed that, surprisingly, the administration of a combined therapy of a depleting agent and a chemotherapeutic agent to cultured human cancer cells treated with pterostilbene (Pter) leads to an almost complete elimination of tumour cells, as demonstrated by the decrease in both cell number and cell viability, showing a clear synergy between the glutathione depleting agent and the chemotherapeutic agent compared to the effect of each of these compounds alone. The synergistic effect between the depleting agent and the chemotherapeutic agent was much less extensive in the absence of Pter treatment. The invention is patent pending (European application number EP15382378.6).

The main application of the technology is in the pharmaceutical sector, in particular oncology.

The main advantage of the technology is to provide improved pharmacological treatment of cancer compared to conventional chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy treatments.

• Patent applied