Cancer process initiation

The most convincing data have been obtained from rodent models of cancers that revealed protective effects of curcumin against cancers of aU sites. Curcumin is able to inhibit all steps of cancer processes, initiation, progression, and promotion. These observations, combined with the apparent lack of toxicity of curcumin for doses up to 8 g/day for 3 mo suggest potential uses of curcumin as an anti-carcinogenic chemoprotective agent. ... 

The rate of growth of human and experimental cancers is initially quite rapid (exponential) and then slows until a plateau is reached. The decrease in growth rate with increasing tumor size is related both to a decrease in the proportion of cancer cells actively proliferating (termed the growth fraction) and to an increase in the rate of cell loss due to hypoxic necrosis, poor nutrient supply, immunological defense mechanisms, and other processes. 

The role of depurinating adducts and apurinic sites in the PAH-induced cancer process is controversial and has yet to be fully elucidated. There are lines of evidence that both support and refute this theory. In support of this theory, the levels of depurinating adducts of B[a]P correlated with mutations in the H-ras oncogene in DNA isolated from mouse skin papillomas initiated by this compound (Chakravarti et al. 1995). It is well known that the initiation of skin tumors in mice is associated with the formation of mutations in the H-ras gene [reviewed by Ross and Nesnow (1999)]. DB[a,/]P treatment of mouse skin forms papillomas which contain the H-ras codon 61 (CAA to CTA) mutation. These same mutations were induced in early preneoplastic skin within one day after DB[a,/]P treatment and appear to be related to DB[a,/]P-Ade-depurinating adducts. Studies have shown that apurinic... 

Oncogenesis is the process of cancer initiation the term is essentially synonymous with carcinogenesis. 

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