Chemoprevention of Indirect and Direct Chemical Carcinogenesis by Carotenoids as Oxygen Radical Quenchersa

Beta-carotene (BC) and canthaxanthine (CX), two carotenoids with and without pro-vitamin A activity, respectively, were found to help to prevent benzo[a]pyrene (BP)-induced skin carcinogenesis in the dark and BP photocarcinogenesis (UV 300-400 nm) when given as an oral supplement to female Swiss albino mice. The same experimental procedure was adapted to 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) photoinduction of mammary carcinomas in mice. Here also, the two carotenoids were strongly antitumorigenic. Indeed, 8-MOP photomutagenesis, tested in S. typhimurium TA 102, appeared to depend on a two-step reaction, namely an oxygen-independent DNA-8-MOP photoadduct, followed by an oxygen-dependent second step, sensitive to carotenoids. This result suggests that dietary carotenoids (powerful antioxidant molecules) might prevent the carcinogenic risk caused by substances that are transformed into ultimate carcinogens by oxidative processes which are indirectly carcinogenic. Finally, to verify whether supplemental carotenoids can affect carcinogenesis where neither light excitation nor oxidative metabolic processes are involved, an experimental attempt was made on gastric carcinogenesis induced in rats by the direct carcinogen N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). The results demonstrate that supplemental carotenoids do not affect initiation and progression stages, but do prevent the progression stage of dysplasias to infiltrating gastric carcinomas. Thus, this provides strong presumptive evidence for oxygen radical involvement in the later stages of this neoplastic development, as recently reported in the literature. As far as mutagenicity in S. typhimurium is concerned, carotenoids do not exert, as expected, any protective effect on MNNG mutagenic activity. The above experimental data suggest that supplemental carotenoids, instead of sunscreen preparations, can be adopted by outdoor workers to prevent skin cancer. Accordingly, such natural antioxidants may be useful in human chemoprevention against neoplasias of the lung, breast, urinary bladder, and colon and rectum even after radical surgery.