Cancer chemopreventive activity of the prenylated coumarin, umbelliprenin, in vivo.
Umbelliprenin is a prenylated compound, which belongs to the class of sesquiterpene coumarins. In continuation of our earlier in-vitro finding, we determined to assess the cancer chemopreventive activity of umbelliprenin in vivo by using a two-stage carcinogenesis assay of mouse skin tumors induced by peroxynitrite as an initiator and TPA (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate) as a promoter. In this assay, treatment with umbelliprenin along with peroxynitrite/TPA delayed the formation of papillomas up to week 9, and approximately 33.3 and 86.6% of the mice bore papillomas after 11 and 20 weeks of promotion, respectively. Umbelliprenin reduced the number of tumors per mouse by 45% after 20 weeks of promotion compared with the control group. Interestingly, this is equal to the corresponding value (45%) for curcumin, used as a reference standard compound in our study. In addition, the pattern of tumor promotion was slower in mice treated with umbelliprenin compared with the curcumin. Therefore, umbelliprenin might be valuable as a cancer chemopreventive agent.
Iranshahi
Mehrdad
M
Department of Pharmacognosy, Biotechnology Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Iranshahim@mums.ac.ir
Sahebkar
Amirhossein
A
Takasaki
Midori
M
Konoshima
Takao
T
Tokuda
Harukuni
H
D000818:Animals; D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002273:Carcinogens; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D010212:Papilloma / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000517:prevention & control*; D030421:Peroxynitrous Acid; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014468:Umbelliferones / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents; D002273:Carcinogens; D014468:Umbelliferones; D030421:Peroxynitrous Acid; C003744:umbelliprenin