Anti-carcinogenic activity of Taraxacum plant. I

Abstract

An extract of the roots of Taraxacum japonicum (Compositae) exhibited strong anti-tumor-promoting activities on the two-stage carcinogenesis of mouse skin tumor induced by dimethylbenz|a|anthracene (DMBA) as an initiator and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) as a promoter, as well as on that induced by DMBA and fumonisin B1. Further, the extract exhibited anti-tumor-initiating activity on the two-stage carcinogenesis of mouse skin tumor induced by (±)-(E)-methyl-2-[(E)-hydroxyiminol-5-nitro-6- methoxy-3-hexenamide (NOR-1) as an initiator and TPA as a promoter. These results suggested that an extract of the roots of the Taraxacum plant could be a valuable chemopreventive agent against chemical carcinogenesis.