SARCOPHYTOL-A - A NEW CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC AND CHEMOPREVENTIVE AGENT FOR PANCREATIC-CANCER

Sarcophytol A (SaA), a cembrane-type diterpene isolated from the marin e soft coral Sarcophyton glaucum showed anticancer and cancer preventi ve effects in two different experiments. Growth of transplanted human pancreatic cancer cells (MIA paca-a, 1 x 10(7)) in nude mice (BALB/C 4 W female) (Experiment 1) and pancreatic carcinogenesis induced by N-ni trobis-(2-hydroxypropyl) amine (BHP, 500 mg/kg) in Syrian golden hamst ers (7W female) (Experiment 2) were inhibited by feeding the animals a diet containing 0.01% SaA. In Experiment 1, on day 29 after transplan tation, tumor volume was significantly less in the SaA group than in t he control group (1,759 + 310 mm(3) vs. 2,364 + 467 mm(3)) (p < 0.05). In Experiment 2, the incidence of pancreatic tumors in the SaA group was 42.8% and that in the control group was 90.0% at 25-27 weeks. Thus , pancreatic carcinoma developed more slowly in the SaA group than in the control group. In addition, the incidence of atypical ductal hyper plasia and carcinoma in situ was lower in the SaA group. These results indicate that oral SaA administration is an effective vehicle for inh ibition of certain types of cancer in hamsters.