Crocin and crocetin derivatives inhibit skin tumour promotion in mice

✍ Scribed by T. Konoshima; M. Takasaki; H. Tokuda; S. Morimoto; H. Tanaka; E. Kawata; L. J. Xuan; H. Saito; M. Sugiura; J. Molnar; Y. Shoyama

• Book ID: 101289426
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 135 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0951-418X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1573(199809)12:6<400::aid-ptr321>3.0.co;2-4

✦ Synopsis

The addition of 100 mg/mL of a 50% EtOH extract of Crocus sativus (ECS) exhibited significant inhibitory effects on EBV-EA activation and preserved the high viability of Raji cells. The attenuating effect of ECS was dose-dependent. The oral administration of ECS demonstrated an inhibitory effect on two-stage carcinogenesis of mouse skin papillomas, using DMBA as an initiator and TPA as a promoter. Crocetin gentiobiose glucose ester and crocetin di-glucose ester were less potent than crocin in inhibiting the EBV-EA induction effect. When crocin was applied before each TPA treatment, it delayed the formation of papillomas; only about 10% of mice bore papillomas at 9 weeks of promotion and after 13 weeks of promotion 20% of mice still bore no papilloma. The effect of crocin was not mimicked by gentiobiose or glucose alone.