Cancer chemopreventive activity of phenylpropanoid esters of sucrose, vanicoside B and lapathoside A, from Polygonum lapathifolium.

To search for cancer chemopreventive agents from natural resources, many phytochemicals have been screened using the in vitro synergistic assay indicated by the inhibitory effects on the induction of Epstein-Barr virus early antigen (EBV-EA) by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). Two phenylpropanoid esters of sucrose, vanicoside B and lapathoside A, were isolated from the aerial part of Polygonum lapathifolium as inhibitors on the EBV-EA induction. These compounds also exhibited significant anti-tumor-promoting effects on mouse two-stage skin carcinogenesis induced by 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA, as an initiator) and TPA as a promoter. Further, vanicoside B exhibited the remarkable inhibitory effect on two-stage carcinogenesis test of mouse skin tumors initiated with an NO donor, NOR-1.