Antitumor-promoting effects of cyclic diarylheptanoids on Epstein-Barr virus activation and two-stage mouse skin carcinogenesis

Abstract Eleven cyclic diarylheptanoids were screened as potential antitumor promoters by examining the ability of the compounds to inhibit Epstein–Barr virus early antigen activation (induced by 12- O -tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate) in Raji cells. 13-Oxomyricanol and myricanone showed the highest activity and also exhibited remarkable inhibitory effects on mouse skin tumor promotion in an in vivo two-stage carcinogenesis test. These data suggest that certain diarylheptanoids might be valuable antitumor promoters and/or chemopreventors.