Chemoprevention of dietary constituents has emerged as a cost-effective approach to control the incidence of breast cancer. The present study was therefore designed to evaluate the chemopreventive efficacy of black tea polyphenols (Polyphenon-B) during the preinitiation phase of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) induced mammary carcinogenesis using xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes, cellular redox status, cell proliferation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis as biomarkers of chemoprevention. Intragastric administration of DMBA induced adenocarcinomas that showed enhanced activities of phase I carcinogen activation and phase II detoxification enzymes with increased lipid and protein oxidation and decrease in antioxidant status. This was associated with increased cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and evasion of apoptosis as revealed by upregulation of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), Bcl-2, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and downregulation of Bax, caspase 3, and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Dietary administration of Polyphenon-B effectively suppressed the incidence of mammary tumors as evidenced by modulation of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes and oxidant-antioxidant status, inhibition of cell proliferation and angiogenesis, and induction of apoptosis. The present study provides evidence that Polyphenon-B exerts multifunctional inhibitory effects on DMBA-induced mammary carcinogenesis and suggests that it can be developed as a potential chemopreventive agent.
(c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.