1. Academic Validation
  2. Inhibitory effects of canthaxanthin on in vitro growth of murine tumor cells

Inhibitory effects of canthaxanthin on in vitro growth of murine tumor cells

  • Cancer Lett. 1992 Aug 31;65(3):209-13. doi: 10.1016/0304-3835(92)90233-l.
D S Huang 1 O E Odeleye R R Watson
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tucson 85724.
Abstract

The antitumorigenic effects of carotenoids, in addition to their immuno-enhancing effects, may occur by their direct action on growing tumor cells. To test this hypothesis the direct inhibitory effect of various concentrations of canthaxanthin (CX; 4,4'-diketo-beta-carotene), a non-provitamin A carotenoid, was tested on the in vitro growth of JB/MS, B16F10 melanomas and PYB6 fibrosarcoma and murine non-transformed NIH-3T3 (ATCC CRL 1658) cells. At concentrations of 1 x 10(-8) M up to 1 x 10(-4) M, CX significantly reduced the overall number of tumor cells. The greatest inhibition was observed at a CX concentration of 1 x 10(-4) M after 72 h and 96 h of incubation. However, CX had no inhibitory effect on the growth of the non-transformed NIH-3T3 cell line; rather it significantly enhanced growth of this cell line (P less than 0.05) after 96 h of incubation. Thus, the inhibitory action of CX on growing tumor cells appears to be due to its direct actions on tumor cells and not via its conversion to vitamin A or its immuno-enhancing effects.

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