Red and White Wine Lees Show Inhibitory Effects on the Liver Carcinogenesis.

SCOPE: Wine has shown anticarcinogenic benefits in hepatocarcinoma and polyphenols seem to be responsible for these effects. Wine lees are the sediments produced during fermentation and they endow wine with organoleptic and physicochemical properties. However, the anticarcinogenic role of these compounds is still unknown. Thus, the purpose of this work was to determine the phytochemical profiles of wine lees and then, to analyze their anticarcinogenic effect and DNA methylation on a model of hepatocarcinogenesis.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The phytochemical composition of lees was determined by Folin-Ciocalteu method and by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. An in vivo study using a diethyl nitrosamine hepatocarcinogenesis-induced model was performed to investigate the hepatoprotective properties of different doses of wine lees. For the DNA methylation analysis a bisulfite-based method was used. Both types of lees mostly contained pyrogallol, gallic and syringic acid with a high content of catechins in red lees. The carcinogen hypermethylated the Alu-M2 repetitive sequence and white lees decreased the hypermethylation at all tested concentrations. Low concentration of red and white lees and high concentration of white lees, significantly improved the hepatocellular architecture and decreased the mitotic index in the murine model.

CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that wine lees are promising agents for chemoprevention of hepatocarcinoma. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.