7,12-Dimethylbenz 'a''nthracene (DMBA) is an immunosuppressor and a powerful organ-specific laboratory

carcinogen A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive substan ...

. DMBA is widely used in many research laboratories studying cancer. DMBA serves as a tumor initiator.

Tumor promotion Tumor promotion is a process in carcinogenesis by which various factors permit the descendants of a single initiated cell to survive and expand in number, i.e. to resist apoptosis and to undergo clonal growth. This is a step toward tumor progress ...

can be induced with treatments of 12-''O''-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) in some models of two-stage carcinogenesis. This allows for a greatly accelerated rate of tumor growth, making many cancer studies possible.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dimethylbenz(a)anthracene, 7,12- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Carcinogens Anthracenes Immunosuppressants