[Chemoprevention of cancer].

Abstract

This article is based on the experimental results obtained on the inhibition of tumor promotion by the application of certain compounds. Retinoids are well investigated anti-tumor promoters which inhibit the tumor promotion of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate applied to mouse skin. We screened a number of possible anti-tumor promoters by short-term tests. The compounds which gave positive results in the tests were subjected to a long-term iu vivo two-stage carcinogenesis experiment with DMBA plus teleocidin on mouse skin. We found that a calmodulin antagonist, quercetin, anti-inflammatory agents and tannic acids were able to act as new anti-tumor promoters. One of the tannic acids tested is (-)-epigallocatechin gallate, a tannic acid contained in tea. However, the short-term tests have still not been able to detect the anti-tumor promoter satisfactorily. Recently, we found that sarcophytol A inhibits tumor promotion in mouse skin with an equimolar ratio of teleocidin. A study on the action of sarcophytol A is now under investigation. In addition, the primary and the secondary chemoprevention of cancer were also briefly mentioned.