• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.334-339
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• 1993

Antitumor activities of tannin extract and chloroform fraction extract from the persimmon leaves, and 2, 4-decadienal identified as an antimutagenic compound in persimmon leaves were examined in sarcoma 180 implanted tumor in mice by using both light and transmission electron microscopes. Among them, tannin extracted from the persimmon leaves delayed the progression of malignant tumor but the other two did not show any noticeable effect. The antitumorigenic activity of tannin extract might not come from the selective cytotoxicity against tumor cells, but might be, in an anaerobic environment, from the inhibitory action against oncogenic protein synthesis or from the proteolysis of the preformed oncogenic proteins by autophagocytic granules. therefore, the tannin from persimmon leaves might protect cells from fast progression of malignant tumorigensis.