Trial to find if red wine chemical can prevent bowel cancer

Scientists will explore if a chemical mostly found in red grapes – and products made from red grapes, such as wine and juice – can help prevent bowel cancer as part of a major new trial.

The study – known as Colo-Prevent – has been hailed as a “unique experiment” that could have “big implications” for people at risk of the disease.

It will also look at other potential treatments to prevent bowel cancer, including aspirin and metformin, a medication prescribed to help people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar.

It is hoped about 1,300 patients will participate in the trial across 60 locations in England and Wales by the start of 2028.

Researchers will use purified resveratrol – a natural compound mostly found in red grapes – as well as blueberries, raspberries and peanuts.

Karen Brown, a professor of translational cancer research at the University of Leicester, is leading the study.

Her previous research found that purified resveratrol can hinder the growth of cancer cells in small doses.

“With the Colo-Prevent trial, we are embarking on a unique experiment to see how drugs could stop bowel polyps from growing,” Prof Brown said.

“This trial could have big implications for how we prevent bowel cancer in people who are most likely to develop the disease as they get older.”

Experts are recruiting people aged between 50 and 73 who have taken part in the NHS bowel screening programme and been found to have bowel polyps, small growths that are usually not serious but can develop into cancer if left untreated.

Patients will have their polyps removed and will be given either aspirin alone or a combination of aspirin and metformin, for the main trial.

Others will take purified resveratrol or a placebo as part of a sub-study.

Those in the aspirin and metformin groups will take the drugs daily for three years, while those on resveratrol or the placebo will take it for one year.

All patients will then be given a colonoscopy – a procedure in which a long thin tube with a camera on the end is inserted into the bottom to help doctors see inside the colon – to determine if the polyps have started growing again.

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK, with an estimated 44,000 people each year – or about 120 a day – diagnosed with the disease.

It is not always known what causes it, but the NHS advises people to exercise regularly, eat more fruit and vegetables, drink less alcohol and quit smoking to reduce their risk.

Bowel cancer screening is also offered to everyone aged between 54 and 74 every two years.

People are sent faecal immunochemical test (FIT) kits – which look for blood in poo – through the post, allowing them to collect the sample at home.

Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, which is funding the trial, said: “This trial opens the door to a new era of cancer research, where cancer becomes much more preventable through cutting-edge science.

“The Colo-Prevent trial is one of the biggest trials into therapeutic prevention in the UK.

“The insights gained from the trial will change how we think about cancer prevention and give more people the chance of longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer.”

David Trusler, 66, is one of the first patients to take part in the study and said he is doing so for his father, who died with bowel cancer when David was a teenager.

Mr Trusler, from Market Harborough in Leicestershire, was diagnosed with prostate cancer 11 years ago, and after successful surgery, it has not returned.

He has been taking part in the NHS bowel screening programme since 2018 and, after receiving an abnormal result earlier this year, a colonoscopy revealed two large polyps.

“My first thought was, ‘oh no, not again’,” Mr Trusler said. “I lost my dad when I was 17 to bowel cancer.

“We had such a strong bond. I’ll never forget how angry it made me to lose that time with him.

“When my dad was diagnosed in the 1970s, there was no MRIs, no ultrasound. Many of the advances in cancer treatment we have now simply didn’t exist then.

“I’m taking part in this trial for my dad, to give future generations the kind of treatments he never had.”

Prof Brown added: “Screening has made huge progress in picking up bowel cancers in those most at risk. But to improve outcomes further, we need to prevent more bowel cancers emerging in the first place.”