Sarcophytol A: a new chemotherapeutic and chemopreventive agent for pancreatic cancer.

Sarcophytol A (SaA), a cembrane-type diterpene isolated from the marine soft coral Sarcophyton glaucum showed anticancer and cancer preventive effects in two different experiments. Growth of transplanted human pancreatic cancer cells (MIA paca-2, 1 x 10(7)) in nude mice (BALB/C 4W female) (Experiment 1) and pancreatic carcinogenesis induced by N-nitrobis-(2-hydroxypropyl) amine (BHP, 500 mg/kg) in Syrian golden hamsters (7W female) (Experiment 2) were inhibited by feeding the animals a diet containing 0.01% SaA. In Experiment 1, on day 29 after transplantation, tumor volume was significantly less in the SaA group than in the control group (1,759 + 310 mm3 vs. 2,364 + 467 mm3) (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 hyperplasia and carcinoma in situ was lower in the SaA group. These results indicate that oral SaA administration is an effective vehicle for inhibition of certain types of cancer in hamsters.