Biodiversity of edible plants in Southeast Asia: implications for cancer prevention
2000
Koshimizu, K.
In recent decades, close relationships between food constituents and their efficacies for prevention of "life style-related disease" including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer have been proven. In particular, there is ample evidence for the involvement of food habits of food components in cancer prevention in humans. We have carried out screening tests of vegetables and fruits in Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia (n=371) for the inhibition of the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)- induced Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) activation in Raji cells. As the results, such plants were found to have markedly higher potentials for cancer prevention as compared with those in Japan (n=133). Zerumbone was isolated from the rhizomes of Zingiber zerumbet Smith as a potent inhibitor of EBV activation. The IC50 value of zerumbone (0.14M) is noticeably lower than those of the anti-tumor promoters we have hitherto obtained. These results indicated that the use of edible plants in Southeast Asian countries may be beneficial to search effective chemopreventive agents
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