CHEMOPREVENTIVE EFFICACY OF ZINGERONE ON MASTOCYTE INFLAMMATION, CELL PRO-LIFERATION AND APOPTOSIS AGAINST DMBA-INCITED MAMMARY CARCINOGENESIS IN FEMALE SPRAGUE-DAWLEY RATS

Zingerone is an active phenolic acid and the least pungent component of Zingiber officinale. It is known to exhibit different pharmacological properties which include anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer and antimicrobial activities. But, so far there has been no information available on the role of zingerone in experimental breast carcinogenesis. The objective of this experiment is to untwine the anticancer qualities of zingerone against dimethylbenz (a) anthracene (DMBA)-incited mammary carcinogenesis. To achieve this goal, female Sprague-Dawley rats were arbitrarily classified into six groups. Group 1 was notified as the control, groups 2-5 were given a single dose of DMBA (25 mg/kg b.wt, subcutaneously) in the 4th week. Along with DMBA, groups 3 (initium), 4 (post-initium) and 5 (entire period) rats received zingerone (20mg/kg b.wt. p.o) every day in different time periods during the experimental period of 16 weeks. Group 6 rats received 20 mg/kg b.wt. of zingerone alone. Cancer-bearing animal mammary tissue when evaluated by western blot showed increased immune expression patterns of ER, PR, HER2/ neu, cyclin D1 and also antiapoptotic protein (Bcl-2) and decreased expression of the proapoptotic proteins (P53, P21, Bax, caspases 3 and 9. When zingerone (20 mg/kg b. wt.) supplementation was continued for the entire duration of the experiment to DMBA- treated rats, the expression patterns of various tumor and apoptotic markers including the pathological modifications were switched back to essentially normal. Therefore, we conclude that zingerone could be considered as a powerful chemo preventive agent to counter DMBA incited breast carcinogenesis.