Abstract
Cancer prevention is an important issue in the field of public health. In Oriental countries, Eucommia bark (the bark of Eucommia ulmoides) is used in tonics and anti-hypertensive medicines. Eucommia bark has inhibitory activity against 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced inflammation in mice. We demonstrated that at a dose of 1 mg/mouse, a methanol extract of Eucommia bark markedly inhibited the tumour-promoting activity of TPA in mice with skin tumour formation following initiation with 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA). These results suggest the potential use of Eucommia bark in cancer prevention.
